Shifted
by ShiaraS
Summary: What if Peter bit Stiles instead of Scott that night in the woods? How would this have changed the story? How will Stiles handle being a werewolf? Will he tell Scott about his nightly affliction? Werewolf!Stiles Human!Scott
1. A Midnight Trek

**Disclaimer:**

 **I DO NOT OWN TEEN WOLF**

 **Summary:**

 _Things take a turn for the bizarre when two boys' midnight trek into the woods ends with one of them being bit by a beast with glowing red eyes and fangs that almost gleam in vicious delight. Now, the once pale and scrawny Stiles Stilinski is a creature of the night spending all his spare time trying to survive from hunters and the murderous werewolf that turned him. With the help of Derek Hale, he manages to mostly learn how to be a werewolf._

 _But what would these changes do to his relationships? His father who is constantly in danger of things he doesn't know about. His best friend who is getting increasingly suspicious and worried over his apparent closeness to Derek Hale. His lacrosse captain who is working to destroy his friendship with Scott in his effort to find out his secret._

 _Will Stiles make it out of this situation alive? Will he still have his best friend when this is all over?_

* * *

 _Two joggers found a body in the woods._

 **Have you ID'd the body yet?**

 _Uhh, not yet Sheriff._

 **Why not?**

 _The joggers only found half the body sir._

 **Come again Deputy. Did you say they only found half?**

 **OoOoO**

Stiles Stilinski didn't waste any time after listening in on his dad's phone call. He got his stuff and started to drive to his best friend's house, more than eager to get started on the night's adventures. This is the most exciting thing that's happened to him all summer and he could not wait for the night to get better by finding the other half of the body.

The only problem was his best friend, Scott McCall, wasn't answering his calls. Stiles was getting more antsy the longer it took for him to get to the McCall house and his ADHD wasn't helping at all. Reaching into his glove compartment, he grabbed a bottle of Adderall and downed one pill. If he was going on a midnight trek in the woods to look for a dead body, he's gonna need to be extra focused.

When he finally reached Scott's house, he immediately started to climb on the porch roof. He figured that Scott was probably sleeping and since Melissa has told Scott repeatedly to lock the front door so that he would have to knock before coming in, going in through his bedroom window was the only option.

He was anything but graceful as he tried to get on the roof and he made a few noises on his way but at least he made it. He looked inside Scott's room and was surprised to find it empty. He was about to call his name when he heard the front door open. Thinking that his best friend was on his way out, he got off the roof and was about to say something when he was greeted by the sight of Scott McCall holding a… _bat_?

The two boys screamed in shock and fright neither expecting what was in front of them.

"Stiles what the hell are you doing?" Scott lowered his bat and tried to calm his racing heart

"You weren't answering your phone!" Stiles answered as if it was perfectly understandable, "Why do you have a bat?"

"I thought you were a predator!"

"A pre-" Stiles scoffed, as if he could actually be a predator. If he was a predator, then his prey was a pack of delicious curly fries.

"Look I know it's late but you gotta hear this."

He then told Scott about the phone call his dad got and the search party in the woods because of the body two joggers found. He could feel himself getting excited and flushed at the awesomeness of that news, or it could have something to do with the blood rushing to his head. He was still upside down.

Once he was right side up he told Scott the best part about the dead body. Possible murder victim, woman, in her twenties, and missing half of her body.

"We're going." Stiles declared with a tone of finality knowing that if he didn't, Scott would go back inside and sleep. Definitely not an option.

 **OoOoO**

Beacon Hills Preserve was not a place to be in after sunset as proven by the dozens of cases of animal attack over the years. Coyotes, mountain lions, and various other dangerous animals lived there who were very territorial. Well, that was the official story.

This little fact didn't stop most people from going into the preserve though, including two teenage boys looking for some adventure and excitement.

"Are we seriously doing this?" Scott asked getting out of the jeep.

"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town." Flashlight at the ready, Stiles walked into the Preserve ignoring the big **NO ENTRY** sign.

"I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow."

Stiles rolled his eyes blocking out Scott's speech about making first line. Scott has been relentless in his wish to be on first line and quit living on the sideline. Stiles understood that, he wasn't all too happy about being benched all the time either, but Scott was acting like making first line was the only thing that mattered. He saw how Scott practiced hard over the summer and read up on different ways to control his asthma while simultaneously ignoring the summer reading given to them towards the end of their Freshman year.

"Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?"

Stiles paused for a second thinking about his dad's phone call but he couldn't remember the deputy saying which half of the body the joggers found. He figured it didn't matter, it wasn't like they would be seeing many severed bodies out here. "Huh…I didn't even think about that."

"And what if whoever killed the body is still here?"

"Also something I didn't think about." Stiles didn't even seem worried, which worried Scott.

"It's comforting to know that you thought this through with your usual attention to detail."

"I know."

They were going up a small hill now and Scott was suddenly thankful for all those google articles that he read about controlling his asthma.

Whatever Stiles might have said next was interrupted by the distant sound of dogs barking and the sight of men with flashlights ahead. Not wanting to get caught by his dad's deputies, Stiles ran deeper into the woods forgetting that Scott was asthmatic and might not be able to catch up to him. Pumping his legs faster than he ever had all summer, Stiles made it into a part of the woods where he was sure no deputy would find him.

"That was close. Scott, you okay?" He turned around and noticed for the first time that he was alone.

"Scott?" He called out hoping that wherever Scott was he could hear him.

He turned his flashlight everywhere but couldn't see anything except the endless trees in the preserve.

The sound of a branch snapping somewhere behind him drew his attention and he turned the flashlight and frowned when he thought he saw glowing red dots in the distance.

"Scott? Is that you?"

For the first time since coming into the woods, Stiles was beginning to get scared. The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention and every fiber of his being was telling him to run away from the red dots. Like a primal urge to flee and survive. He took a step back and it was at that moment that the dots moved. They weren't dots at all, but eyes! Red glowing eyes that belonged to a big animal of some kind. An _angry_ big animal of some kind! The beast seemed fixated on him and it let out a growl right before running at him full speed.

Quickly turning around, Stiles made to run back the way he came. He could hear the beast's heavy footsteps as it chased after him and he cursed his stupid legs for not being fast enough. Silently he promised that if he ever made it out of this alive, he would take lacrosse more seriously, or at least cross country.

He was barely up a small hill when he felt the beast's large teeth clamp down on his left leg. Stiles screamed at the intense pain that shot up his leg from where the beast bit him. Holding the flashlight tighter, he swung back and hit the beast's head as hard as he could. The impact wasn't much but it was enough for the beast to let go of his leg and he was able to run away as fast as his freshly injured leg let him.

The beast, whatever it was, didn't continue to pursue him. Instead it reared its massive head back and let out an animalistic howl — one that Stiles couldn't hear because he was too focused on running away and staying alive. Then it just turned and ran the other way as if it forgot about the pale boy it just bit.

Stiles was limping pretty badly when he found himself on cemented road. Trying to ignore the pain in his leg, he walked back to where he left his jeep.

"Stiles!" Scott was leaning on his jeep waiting for him, "Where have you been? Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Stiles replied getting in the driver's seat (injured or not, no one else was allowed to drive his baby), "I just got bit by some animal. I'm hoping it's nothing like rabies. God my dad's gonna kill me if it is."

The two boys first stopped by at Scott's house where they applied first aid to Stiles' bite and exchanged stories of their night. Stiles found out that after getting trampled over by a herd of deer, Scott found the other half of the dead body. Stiles was bummed that he didn't get to see the body himself but at least Scott did and maybe tomorrow they could come back so he could see it for himself.

Neither of the two boys noticed the pair of glowing red eyes watching them from the other side of the street.

* * *

 **AN: How do you guys like the first chapter? Just to be clear though, Stiles was the only one who got bit. Scott didn't even though he found the body.**

 **Also just a heads up, update schedule will not be regular though I'll try to update at least once a week.**


	2. Muffins and Price Tags and Drums Oh My

The next day when Stiles woke up, the first thing he did was test how sore his leg was. They had lacrosse practice today and even though he might be sitting on the bench the rest of the season, Coach would yell at him if he wasn't able to keep up with the rest of the team. Not to mention if he started limping, his dad would start asking questions and he hasn't come up with a plausible lie just yet.

He flexed it this way and that and was surprised to find that he wasn't as sore as he expected. The area around the wound still ached a little bit but not enough that it would be too obvious when he walked. Maybe the thing didn't bite him as hard as he thought.

He got dressed, grabbed his school things, and headed downstairs to have a quick breakfast with his dad. He was almost out of his room when he smelled freshly baked muffins, vanilla muffins to be exact.

"Dad where'd you get muffins?" He asked his dad as he sat on the kitchen table

"What are you talking about? I don't have any muffins."

Stiles frowned, he could've sworn he smelled muffins. In fact, he could still smell it. Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him, he did like muffins, especially the ones his mother used to make.

"I'll get it." Stiles said when the doorbell rang.

As he got closer to the door, he couldn't help but notice that the smell of vanilla muffins got stronger. Shaking his head, he opened the door and couldn't help the way his jaw partially dropped. Right in front of him was Mrs. Lee with a plate of freshly baked muffins.

"Good morning Stiles," Greeted the thirty-five-year-old woman, "I was up early this morning and made some extra muffins. Claudia was the one who taught me the recipe so I saved some for you and your dad."

"Thank you, Mrs. Lee they look delicious." He accepted the plate and invited Mrs. Lee inside.

"No thank you dear I still have to get to work. Enjoy the muffins."

"We will, vanilla muffins are our favorite." He smiled while a part of him was hoping that she corrected him on the flavor of the muffins.

Mrs. Lee looked confused but she smiled and said, "That's right. Their vanilla flavored. How did you know?"

Stiles tried to hide the way his smile tightened at that confirmation, "I guess I just have a good sense of smell."

Mrs. Lee laughed lightly as she walked away saying how Stiles was so funny, but Stiles stood there on the doorstep for a long time just staring at the plate of muffins. Did he really smell these muffins all the way from his room? How was that even possible?

All the way to school, Stiles puzzled over the muffins and how he was able to immediately tell what flavor it was. He tried to think of a possible solution but he couldn't come up with anything. Mrs. Lee lived across the street and even if she had her windows open while baking, there was no way he would have been able to smell it from his room.

Seeing Scott at the front of the school, he pushed thoughts of those muffins to the back of his head. There were more important things to discuss than breakfast foods.

"How's your bite?" Asked Scott

Stiles lifted up his pant sleeve and showed the bandaged skin to Scott, "It's not as sore as I thought it would be but it still aches a bit."

"Do you think you could still go to practice today?"

"I think so, it's not like sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort anyway." He said sarcastically

"By the way, I think I know what bit you." Scott said adjusting his bag as they started to walk into the school blending in with the students coming from the bus.

"It might have been a wolf."

Stiles raised his eyebrows, "A wolf bit me?"

"Uh huh."

"No. Not a chance." Stiles scoffed

"I heard a wolf howling." Scott supplied fully convinced that a wolf bit his best friend.

"No you didn't." Stiles was starting to get irritated at Scott's insistence that a wolf bit him. How would he know when he wasn't even the one who got bit. Besides Stiles saw how big that thing was, there was no way it was a wolf. He didn't even hear a wolf howling the previous night, maybe Scott heard a coyote or something.

"What do you mean 'no, I didn't'? How do you know what I heard?"

Stiles continued, "Cause California doesn't have wolves. Not in like sixty years."

"Really?"

"Yes really! There are no wolves in California." Stiles was starting to get really annoyed now. If Scott continued to insist it was a wolf, he was going to hit him in the head with his own lacrosse stick.

"Whatever, we're still going after practice, right?"

The previous night Scott dropped his inhaler when the deer ran him over. Since he couldn't afford to buy another one, after Lacrosse practice, the two boys will go back to the woods to find it. Also so Stiles could see the dead body himself.

"Of course! Finding that body is seriously the best thing that happened to this town since…" He trailed off when he saw a goddess walking behind Scott.

"Since the birth of Lydia Martin. Hey Lydia, you look –" He flashed her a brilliant smile but deflated when she just walked passed him, "Like you're gonna ignore me."

Stiles has been in love with Lydia since the dawn of time and it constantly sucked each time she ignored him. He was starting to think that he would have to set himself on fire and dance the macarena in front of her so she would even notice him.

He caught his best friend smirking at him and he scowled, "You're the cause of this you know? Dragging me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been scarlet nerded by you."

Scott just smiled because he knew that Stiles was just joking. They were brothers, and even if it meant getting a date with Lydia, Stiles would never abandon him.

Scott wouldn't either. No girl could ever come between them.

 **OoOoO**

Their first class for the day was English with Mr. Clifford, luckily it was one of the classes that Scott and Stiles had together. Mr. Clifford started the class by telling them about the dead body found in the woods, it wasn't news to the two boys, but that the police have a suspect in custody was. How could they have found a suspect so quickly? Did a witness come forward?

Stiles didn't know and he was itching to go down to the Sheriff's station and ask his dad about it. But he restrained himself knowing that doing so would not only get him detention, but it would also let his dad know that he was listening in on his phone calls. He was taking notes when he suddenly got blasted by the sound of Jessie Jay's Price Tag. Someone was playing music in the classroom and whoever it was didn't seem all that worried that Mr. Clifford would hear them.

He looked around the classroom looking for whoever was playing the song so he could tell them to turn it down a bit. But it didn't seem like anybody else was even bothered by the sound. All he saw was Johnny Myers wearing ear buds.

What was happening to him?

He shook his head and lightly slapped his cheeks. Maybe it was like one of those mind over matter things. He thought he smelled the muffins from a great distance so now his brain was convincing him that he could hear nonexistent music.

Scott noticed his behavior and shot him a concerned look, "Dude you okay?"

Stiles just nodded and gave him a thumbs up. Scott looked like he was about to ask again when the Vice Principal came in and introduced the new girl, Allison Argent.

That was when he started hearing the drums. Fast, evenly paced drums.

Again, he slapped himself in the face, this time a bit harder. The song thing sort of made sense, but drums? Why drums? He wasn't even sure the school had drums and there certainly wasn't a parade going on.

The drums got even louder and faster when the new girl tapped on Scott's shoulder and asked if she could borrow a pen. The idiot was all smiles as he gave her his spare pen.

 _Would you look at that? It seems like Scotty boy's got a crush._

As soon as class ended, Stiles went into the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. He didn't understand what was going on with him. First the weird smell thing and now he was hearing things. Maybe it was all the Adderall, the doctor did say that one of the possible side effects was hallucinations, maybe that was it.

He was going to lay off it immediately. He didn't exactly feel like being one of those people who saw things that weren't there and constantly doubted their sanity.

* * *

 **AN: The song was originally supposed to be payphone by Maroon 5 but I checked the release dates and turns out it came out a year after TW s1 so I went with Price Tag instead.**

 **For those who are wondering, yes Adderall does cause hallucinations, high suspicion, and believing in things that aren't real but ONLY when abused. This is why it is not a drug you can just buy at the pharmacy whenever you feel like it.**

 **It also made me wonder whether Stiles' tendency to suspect everyone and to immediately believe his best friend was a werewolf was highly influenced by the drug. I mean if your best friend suddenly got good at a sport and started hearing and smelling things, would your first thought really be that they were a supernatural creature?**


	3. You're Dead Greenberg!

On the way to Lacrosse practice that afternoon, Stiles kept trying to convince Scott to forget about his plan to make first line. The one good thing about being benched at every game was that he wasn't alone. He and Scott could watch all the players and make bets about who scores and who gets clobbered. But now that Scott was determined to play, being a bench warmer would be a whole lot miserable. He supposed he could talk to Isaac Lahey who was also stuck on the bench, but it wouldn't feel the same.

Scott was determined though so he walked to the field while Stiles stayed and sat on his patented bench. He didn't know why, but the boys sitting next to him smelled worse than usual. Like they spent the night in the boy's locker room while sleeping in the pile of dirty laundry where a family of skunks were hiding. Casually, he took a step away from them and made a mental note to get Coach to put up air fresheners in the locker room. Or issue gas masks for everyone.

When Coach made Scott stay in goal, Stiles crossed his fingers and hoped for the best. Scott's future in Lacrosse would be determined by how well he guarded that goal, he'd love to say that Scott's determination wouldn't be enough to get him a spot on the team, but he couldn't. Not only because Scott was his best friend, but also because he's seen Scott improve drastically over the summer. He may not be a star player but Stiles was pretty sure his summer practice would be enough to get him on first line.

The Assistant Coach blew the whistle and Stiles cringed as he covered his ears. What the hell was that? It was like a banshee screaming right into his ear. Shaking it off, Stiles turned his attention to Scott as the first player threw the ball.

The first save was terrible and Scott got hit in the face, but the next shots were surprisingly better. Of the nine players that aimed at the goal, Scott blocked six of them and the crowd cheered for him. Each time Scott caught a ball, Stiles cheered the loudest. Happy that his best friend would get his wish.

Then Stiles watched Jackson Whitmore step forward and prepare to take his shot, he could have sworn he heard Scott mutter 'Oh God'. But that was impossible because Scott was all the way out in the field and Stiles was stuck in the bench.

Predictably, Jackson scored. But Stiles was sure that Scott's performance was enough to get him on first line.

Then it was his turn to get on the field. Scott stayed in goal and all the players not on first line prepared to shoot some goals. Stiles was fourth in line with Isaac standing behind him.

"How did McCall get that good?" Isaac asked him

"He's been practicing all summer." Was all Stiles said, "He really wants to make first line."

"Well I think he's got a pretty good chance."

In front of him, Greenberg was doing some weird warm up thing that had Coach snapping at him and asking if he was having a seizure or if there was just a spider in his pants. Everyone laughed at their unfortunate teammate and laughed even more when he horribly missed his shot. The ball actually went into the cheering stands straight into some guy's nose.

"You're dead Greenberg!" Screamed the guy while holding on to his bleeding nose.

Coach just shook his head and asked himself for the millionth time, why that boy was even on the team in the first place.

When it was Stiles' turn, he flexed his fingers and lightly turned his lacrosse stick. He looked at Scott and the goal. More specifically at the top right corner.

Stiles was never able to explain how he did what he did. It was like everything got quiet and the only thing he could see was that corner of the goal. When he threw the ball, it looked like it was heading for the left side of the net so Scott dove for it, but the ball curved midair and went into the top right corner of the goal instead.

The whole field was quiet as they stared at the boy and at the goal. None of them could believe it. The boy himself couldn't believe it! Spaztic Stiles just made an incredible shot! The silence was broken by Scott who dropped his lacrosse stick and started cheering for him. Everyone else followed suit and even Coach looked impressed. Well, everyone but Jackson who was glaring at him from the bench. But all Stiles saw was Lydia Martin in the stands clapping and cheering for him.

" _He's definitely making first line."_ Stiles beamed when he heard Coach say those words. This was awesome! Lydia was cheering for him, and he and Scott were both making the team. The _actual_ team!

" _That was a lucky shot Coach."_ He frowned when Jackson's complaint reached his ears.

" _Lucky shot?"_ Coach looked at the team Captain, _"So what do you suggest we do?"_

" _Get Danny to watch goal. McCall's hardly any challenge so if Stilinski over there can make it past Danny, then we'll see how good he really is."_

He could hear the challenge dripping out of Jackson's mouth and Stiles was immediately furious. He gripped his lacrosse stick harder and growled at the boy standing several feet away from him by the bench. The boy didn't hear him however and just continued to convince Coach that he just got lucky.

"You okay man?" Isaac asked, but he didn't hear him. All he could hear was Jackson's voice telling Coach that he wasn't good enough. Not for the team and certainly not for Lydia. He didn't even notice that his eyes flashed gold for a split second.

"Stilinski!" Coach called out, "Do it again!"

Danny replaced Scott in goal and Stiles got ready to fire again. He was going to show Jackson how good he really was and then he was going to punch the smirk right off his stupid face.

" _Come on Stiles."_ Scott was saying on the bench and it fueled Stiles' determination.

Breathing deeply, Stiles threw the ball with all the strength in him. It hit Danny square in the chest but the force of Stiles' throw was too much and he lost his balance falling straight into the goal.

Stiles just scored again!

The Assistant Coach blew his whistle and the crowd exploded! Scott pumped his fists in the air and cheered for his best friend. Lydia was clapping enthusiastically in the bleachers. Coach guffawed and slapped Jackson on the back. Even Danny smiled at him when he got up.

The positive aura in the air seemed to have drained Stiles of the earlier aggression he was feeling. It was like a flip has been switched and now he felt like King Kong on cocaine!

Jackson looked angry and dumbstruck but Stiles didn't care. He was over the moon and nothing could bring him down.

* * *

 **AN: I know, short chapter. Sorry guys but I felt like this was a good place to cut it.**

 **I want to introduce Derek's 3 betas early on in the story. Have them interact with Stiles and maybe Scott too.**


	4. Back In The Woods

After practice, Scott and Stiles made their way back into the woods to look for Scott's inhaler and have Stiles see the dead body.

"Dude how'd you do that back there?" Scott asked Stiles, "You haven't been practicing have you?"

"I don't know man, it was like – like everything was incredibly focused for me. Like it was all on slow mo or something." It was as close to an actual explanation as Stiles could come up with at that moment and even it wasn't enough.

"Focused? How much Adderall did you take?"

"None!" Stiles exclaimed flailing his hands in indignation, "Even if I did, I've been taking that stuff for years, don't you think I would have been Captain already if it was the Adderall?"

Stiles tried to ignore the fact that his first instinct was also to blame all this weird stuff on the drug as well. But unless the anti-ADHD medication suddenly gave him an athletic boost, he doubted it was the culprit.

"And that's not the only weird thing that's happened to me." Stiles continued, "I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear, smell things."

"Smell things? Like what?"

Stiles sniffed the air and said, "Like the cherry bubblegum that's at the bottom of your shoe."

Scott frowned but moved to check his right shoe.

"No, your left shoe."

Scott looked at Stiles and when he saw that he was perfectly serious, checked his left shoe. Sure enough, there was pink gum stuck at the bottom of his left shoe. He looked back at Stiles confused and unable to believe that he was right.

"What if it's the bite? Like an infection." Asked Scott trying to scrape off the gum using a branch, "Like your body's flooding with adrenaline before it goes into shock or something."

Scott's choice of words pulled a mischievous smile on Stiles' face and he decided to mess with him for a little bit.

"You know what? I actually think I've heard of this." Stiles said, "It's a specific kind of infection."

Scott stopped walking, worried about his friend's health, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, yeah I think it's called Lycanthropy." Stiles was sure that Scott would figure it out at that point, but he should've known better. Scott doesn't even watch sci-fi or supernatural movies.

"What's that? Is that bad?" The look on Scott's face and his obvious worry almost made Stiles laugh right there but he reigned it in, knowing that the best was yet to come.

"Oh yeah, it's the worse. But only once a month."

"Once a month?"

"Mhmm on the night of a full moon."

At Scott's inquisitive look, Stiles howled then laughed after Scott hit him on the chest.

"You're the one who heard a wolf howling."

"Something could be seriously wrong with you." Scott said

"I know! I'm a werewolf!" Stiles was enjoying this way too much, it was just too easy to mess with Scott sometimes.

"Obviously I'm joking." He said noticing the look of genuine worry on Scott's face.

Scott stopped walking and looked around. He was a bit annoyed by Stiles at the moment. There could be something really wrong with him and here he was making jokes. If Stiles wasn't going to take this seriously then he would, so he decided he was going to ask his mom about Stiles' symptoms when he got home. Maybe she could tell him he was worrying over nothing.

"I could've sworn this was it." He said pointing at where he saw the body the previous night, "I saw the body. The deer came running, and I dropped my inhaler."

He knelt on the ground to look for his inhaler when Stiles guessed that the killer moved the body. If he did, Scott was just hoping that the inhaler was left behind because he couldn't afford another one. Even though he was getting better at controlling his asthma, the inhaler was still a backup that he kept with him in case he needed it.

Where would he get eighty bucks to buy a new inhaler without letting his mom know he lost his inhaler?

He was pulled to his feet by Stiles who was looking at a man wearing a leather jacket standing a few feet in front of them and glaring.

"What are you doing here?" The stranger asked, "Huh? This is private property."

"Ahh, sorry man we didn't know." Stiles said

"We were just looking for something but –" Scott trailed off, obviously intimidated by the guy in front of him, "Forget it."

Both boys couldn't take their eyes off the man. Scott because he was intimidated by the stranger, and Stiles because he knew exactly who the guy was. He remembered his dad's investigation about the Hale house fire and he was curious to know what made Derek Hale come back to Beacon Hills after all these years.

Derek narrowed his eyes at both of them and threw something at Scott. As if on instinct, Stiles reached out and caught it first before it could hit his best friend in the face. He opened his hands and was shocked to see that it was Scott's inhaler.

"Here you go," He said giving it to Scott and both boys watched Derek Hale walk away.

When they were sure Derek was out of earshot, Scott told Stiles that they should get going.

"Dude that was Derek Hale." Stiles said stopping him, "You remember right? He's only like a few years older than us."

"Remember what?"

"Are you kidding me?" Stiles had no idea how Scott could have forgotten. The Hale house fire was the talk of the town for months and it was all Stiles could talk about at the time.

"His family," He explained, "They all burned to death in a fire like ten years ago."

"Wonder what he's doing back."

Stiles was curious too. He could still remember the Hales, he wasn't close with any of them because they tended to only talk with each other, but he could remember Derek's mother Talia. When he was a kid and he'd help his mom go grocery shopping, sometimes they would run into Talia Hale and she always had a lollipop or some other treat for him. He could also vaguely remember the angry, bossy brunette Cora Hale who yelled at him after he accidentally knocked over her sand castle in the park.

 **OoOoO**

The first thing Stiles did upon getting home was to log on to his computer and fire up Google. It may not have been obvious to Scott but Stiles was also worried about the symptoms he's been experiencing since the animal in the woods bit him. He knew though that he couldn't go to the hospital. Melissa would be there and she would not only lecture him but also tell his father who would find out about his son's late night activities. So he settled for the next best thing and decided to ask good ol' Mr. Google.

He typed in as much of his symptoms as he could without sounding too farfetched. Most of what came up were useless to him. It was all about the different animals with heightened senses and how they use it to either catch their prey or escape from a predator. One article related heightened senses to epilepsy, obviously he wasn't epileptic so that's out.

He kept strolling down with a bored look on his face, he was starting to think he wasn't going to find anything online. Then he saw this article that made his heart momentarily stop. He knew it wasn't possible but before he knew it, he had already clicked on the link.

 _Werewolves are humans with the ability to turn into part animal at will… enhanced senses and fast reflexes that they use to stalk and capture their prey... Their powers and bloodlust are at its peak during a full moon making them extremely dangerous to those around it… These creatures can be turned by either a bite or a scratch from another werewolf and only a silver bullet can kill them._

Panting, he shut down the laptop before he could even finish reading the article. He refused to believe that it was real. Werewolves aren't real. Whatever bit him was a bear or a science experiment gone wrong, not some mythical creature that has the ability to turn him into one of them. It wasn't possible.

"Snap out of it Stiles." He told himself as he paced his room, "You're starting to lose it. Werewolves aren't even real so quit thinking about it. You're fine. You're perfectly –" _fine_.

He frowned. He got bit and almost mauled by a big animal in the woods the night before and he was perfectly fine. How was he alright? How did he even manage to get away? He remembered reading something about werewolves having faster healing ability two months ago. He knew it wasn't possible, but maybe he should just…

He sat on his bed and slowly reached down to remove the bandage on his leg. When he took it off, he would see an ugly wound that would be his only reminder of that night. Possibly a week from now, he'd get a scar on that spot and he could put all this werewolf nonsense behind him.

The bandage was removed and Stiles' already pounding heart suddenly stopped.

His leg was free of any mark, bite, scratch, or scar that should've been there. It was almost like he was never bitten at all.

* * *

 **AN: So what do you guys think? Will Stiles believe in werewolves now?**


	5. Lacrosse Captain

Stiles woke up in the middle of the woods with no idea how he got there. The last thing he remembered was sleeping restlessly because of the werewolf article he found.

He got out of the cave he was in and was shocked to see the river. Had he sleepwalked? He knew he did that in the past but he thought he got over it. Shaking his head, he started to make the long walk back home – or at least the walk out of the woods.

Then he saw something in the distance. A large hulking figure in the mist walking on hands and feet. He walked forward and the thing followed him. He suddenly got the same primal urge to flee that he got when he saw the red eyes. This time, he didn't waste any time before running as fast as he could away from the beast that continued to chase him.

Fear and desperation fueled his legs and he ran faster than he ever had his entire life. Soon he was able to outrun the beast and make it to the edge of the woods. He jumped over a fence straight into someone's pool. He swam to the surface and looked around frantically for any sign of the beast but all he saw was a man in a striped shirt watering some plants.

"Morning," He smiled trying to act as casual as possible in the situation.

How in the hell did he end up in someone's backyard?

 **OoOoO**

While Stiles' morning had been crazy, Scott's was pretty great. In fact, he could call it perfect. For the first time in a while, he woke up with a genuine smile on his face. Last night while he was at the clinic, the new girl, Allison Argent came in after she hit a dog. He didn't know how or why, but for some reason, she agreed to go on a date with him. That plus the fact that he and Stiles would both be making first line made Scott the happiest he's ever been.

He was at his locker getting ready for lacrosse practice when he was ambushed by Jackson.

"Alright little man," Jackson said with that ever permanent scowl on his face, "How about you tell me where you and your little buddy are getting your juice?"

"What?" Scott was confused, was Jackson thirsty?

Slowly, like he was talking to someone stupid, Jackson repeated his question. However, the speed at which he said it did nothing to ease Scott's confusion.

"My mom does all the grocery shopping."

Jackson had this look on his face as if he wasn't quite sure if Scott was just messing with him or if he was just plain stupid.

"Now listen McCall," He said, "You're gonna tell me exactly what it is and who you're buying it from because there's no way you're out there kicking ass on the field like that without some sort of chemical boost."

"Oh you mean steroids!" Finally Scott figured it out, "Are you on steroids?"

Fed up with the idiot, Jackson grabbed Scott and shoved him against the locker.

"What the hell is going on with you McCall?!"

"You wanna know what's going on with me?!" Scott said, "I got tired of being a benchwarmer, of being the stupid loser nobody even knows. I got tired of being shoved aside being stuck on the bench all year because I can't finish one drill without wheezing and gasping for breath. I got tired of all that so I trained everyday last summer and talked to my mom about ways I can control my asthma. That's what's going on with me!"

By the end of his rant, Scott was out of breath. He hasn't said any of those to anyone except for Stiles, and letting it all out now kind of felt good. His frustration at being unpopular and a forgettable member of the team, and his desire to be more than what he was now.

"I believe you." Jackson said, "I saw you on the field a few times this summer. But that doesn't explain why your little buddy is better than you since I rarely saw him practicing with you. So why don't you tell me what he's taking?"

Scott frowned. He knew Stiles would never stoop so low as to use drugs to get better at lacrosse. He wasn't even as determined as he was to make first line. But then again, Stiles did seem really against Scott making first line, like he was afraid it would create a rift between them. Could he have been afraid enough to do whatever it takes so they both make the cut?

Jackson smirked at the expression on Scott's face, "Unless you don't know what he's taking."

"If you wanna know so bad then why don't you ask him yourself?" Scott may have been having doubts about Stiles but he wasn't going to tell Jackson that.

"See, I would but I don't wanna suffer the backlash of his Roid Rage. You never know what these druggies might do when cornered."

Scott remained silent, not willing to let Jackson see even a fraction of the worry and doubt in his eyes.

"I know there's something going on with Stilinski, and I'm gonna find out what it is. I don't care how long it takes."

As if to emphasize his point, Jackson hit the locker beside Scott's head before walking away.

Scott stayed by his locker for a long time just thinking about all that has happened to Stiles and Jackson's questions. He didn't want to believe it, but the more that he thought about it, the more impossible Stiles' sudden athletic ability seemed to be.

The bell rang and Scott started his walk to the lacrosse field. He wouldn't go accusing Stiles of something as serious as this. He was his best friend and he would give him the benefit of the doubt. But he was also going to keep a close eye on him, see if anything else happens to him and make sure Jackson doesn't harass him.

Scott would find out what was wrong with Stiles. He would make sure of that because no way was he letting his best friend get into something bad.

* * *

 **AN: Not that different from the show, I know (Hey I rhymed!) but I just had to include Jackson and Scott's convo, that always cracks me up haha**

 **But don't worry, I don't plan to just replace Scott with Stiles or to do everything according to the show. I'll still follow the show's timeline but I'll try to make it interesting and different as well.**

 **How do you guys feel about Jackson talking with Scott? Do you think Scott believes him?**

 **Now for the bad news, my phone is officially dead. It's been malfunctioning for a while now but I never got it fixed coz I'm an idiot and now it's dead. *moment of silence please***

 **So updating time might be a little out of whack since I usually upload chapters on my phone. I'll try to get a new phone asap and fill it with all my old documents so I can upload again.**


	6. First Line

All day, Stiles managed to block out the werewolf nonsense and his little stroll through the woods. It was working and he was starting to convince himself that he was just being ridiculous.

After classes, but before lacrosse practice, Stiles went back home because he forgot his lacrosse gear. He was in his room getting changed when he heard his dad come in.

"Up here dad!" He called from his room

Noah went up to his son's room and couldn't help but smile when he saw him in his uniform, "You ready for tryouts?"

Stiles told him that morning that he and Scott both had a decent chance of making first line this season and he couldn't be any prouder. Well, until his boys could win the championship that is.

"Yeah, but I'm gonna be late if I don't leave soon. See you there?"

Noah noticed the hopeful gleam in his son's eyes, he felt terrible that he would have to break it, "I would son but we're swamped at the station. With the dead body in the woods and the missing half, we haven't really got much time to spare."

Stiles was disappointed that his dad wouldn't be there but he reminded himself that it wasn't a real game, so he pushed down his sadness and turned his attention to the second half of what his dad said.

"Find anything yet?"

"We're still waiting on the ME's report."

His dad then remembered something his deputy told him the morning after they went looking for the other half of the dead body.

"Stiles, where were you when we went looking for the dead body?"

"I was sleeping dad. Right here. On my bed." Yeah, Stiles was not a very good liar.

"That right?" Noah knew his son was out there, he was just wondering how long Stiles would play innocent.

"Yup. Where else would I be?"

"I don't know. But my deputy did find this flashlight in the woods and it looked a lot like the one you have."

Stiles had to try extremely hard not to show any outward sign of guilt. He had completely forgotten about his flashlight!

"Well it's not mine dad."

"It had the words _S.S. Mischief_ on the side."

He could have denied it some more, but he couldn't do it. _S.S. Mischief_ was the name he used to put on almost all his things. It reminded him of his mom and his dad knew it.

"You've been listening in on my phone calls again, haven't you?" Noah sighed. This was what he got for having a smart son.

"What? No." At his dad's look Stiles relented and said, "Well not the boring ones."

Noah sighed again, at times like these he wished more than ever that Claudia was here to help him deal with their frustratingly smart son. He was pretty sure though that his wife would just smile at him and tell him it was his turn to be frustrated dealing with Stilinski men.

"What have I told you about eavesdropping?"

"That it doesn't count if it's over the phone?" Stiles winced at the damnably obvious lie. He seriously needed to get better at that if he was going to have any chance of keeping this whole werewolf thing a secret.

"Don't make me take out your phone privileges son." Noah said fully aware that if he did, Stiles would figure out a way to talk to Scott even if it meant using carrier pigeons. "Does Melissa know you and Scott were out there?"

The first rule of rule breaking was to never get caught. Since it was obviously too late for that, he would have to prioritize the second rule: never rat out on your co-conspirators.

"Scott wasn't with me that night." Stiles said trying his best to sound convincing, "He said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for practice the next day. Obviously it worked cause he's doing really good."

"Stiles what ha —"

"Really can't stay long dad or Coach will have my head." He slipped past his dad and out the bedroom door before the older man could ask him more about the night the body was found.

Noah, being used to Stiles', umm _Stilesness_ , let the conversation slide for now as he watched his son walk out of his room.

Stiles just started his car when he heard his dad's phone ring.

 _"Sheriff we've got the results from the forensics lab in LA."_ He could hear whoever his dad was talking to on the phone and though normally he would have questioned it, right now he was just curious about the lab results.

 _"What is it?"_ His dad asked

 _"The fiber analysis identified the unknown hair as a wolf."_

Just that one word made Stiles' world start spinning and his head start flooding with all that he had tried to suppress since being bitten by the beast in the woods. The heightened senses, enhanced reflexes, vanishing scar, and the sleep walking incident that morning. Even the glowing red eyes that he saw when he was bit that he has tried to ignore.

Before he knew it, he was at the school and running full sprint to the lacrosse field. All the players were already on the field and it looked like he was just in time for Coach to finish his pep talk.

"Stilinski!" Coach yelled, "You're late!"

"I know Coach but can you just give me a sec I need to talk to Scott."

"McCall's already on the field where you should be. Get your ass on the field!"

"But Coach, can you just…" Stiles tried but Coach Finstock just blew his whistle and Stiles was left with no choice.

He'd play the first elimination then leave. Maybe getting a little workout will help him clear his head.

Stiles played like his life depended on it. He was fast and agile. Each time someone passed him the ball, he scored a goal. Each time someone blocked him, he was able to sidestep them easily no matter how many they were and how fast he was going. He dominated the field like it was nothing. No one, not even Jackson Whitmore could steal the ball from him or keep him from making a shot. Some of the people in the bleachers joked that he played like he was possessed by a demon. An aspiring philosopher commented that he treated the goal as if it were his life's goal and the opposing team as the obstacles he had to overcome in order to reach that goal. But all of them knew that the boy making those amazing shots is not the same boy who dropped his beaker on the first day of Freshman year and incurred the wrath of Adrian Harris.

After scoring a particularly tricky goal, Coach blew his whistle and called him over.

"Stilinski! What do you call that?" Coach practically screamed, "This is a lacrosse field. What, are you trying out for the gymnastics team?"

"No?" Stiles asked unsure of the right answer

"What the hell was that?"

"Well I thought I was winning Coach."

"Yeah?" Coach asked, "Well guess what? You're starting buddy."

Stiles stared wide eyed at the crazy haired Coach. He didn't know what to do.

"You made first line."

The crowd cheered for him and he couldn't help the smile on his face. He made first line!

This was great! This was…

He looked down at his hands and his smile was replaced by a look of pure shock and confusion. He made first line.

If there was one thing he needed to prove to him that werewolves were real, and that he was quite possibly one, it was this. Because he knew that under no circumstances, Adderall or no Adderall, would he have been able to make first line before he got bit. He was unathletic, uncoordinated, unfocused, and frankly he wasn't even sure how he made it on the team in the first place.

Taking off his gloves, he told Coach and Scott that he was beginning to get light headed and wanted to go home. Coach made no objections not wanting his surprise star player to pass out before he even played a game. But Scott looked at him curiously, he was worried about him but Stiles just patted his shoulder and told him he was fine. That he was just gonna sleep it off.

After Stiles left, Scott was approached by Jackson.

"Still think nothing's wrong with your friend?"

Scott didn't answer because he wasn't sure anymore.

* * *

 **AN: Next chapter is Stiles' first full moon. How do you think he'll do? Will he be worse or better than Scott?**

 **What do you guys think about Scott and Jackson's blossoming romance? What ship name will they have?**


	7. Roid Rage

Before heading home, Stiles stopped by the local library and checked out several books that had anything to do about werewolves. If there was a possibility that he was one, then he didn't want his searches to be tainted by the ridiculous werewolves in the Twilight series.

All afternoon Stiles read everything he could about werewolves, aconite, the full moon, and silver bullets. The longer he read, the worse he felt because all of his symptoms seemed to match the ones werewolves got.

If he was a werewolf, there was only one way to test it. Taking a knife from the kitchen downstairs, Stiles pressed the blade to his open palm and tried not to flinch when a long, deep cut has been made. Apparently, being a werewolf didn't make him immune to pain. He turned on the faucet and washed the blood off his hands. Just like his leg, his palm was bare as if it hadn't just been a second ago that he drew a knife on it.

He looked at his unblemished hand and started freaking out. He could feel himself breathing unevenly. His palms started sweating and he was pretty sure he was about to have a panic attack. Closing his eyes, he tried to control his breathing and filled his mind with the look on his dad's face when he told him he was getting good at lacrosse.

Once he could breathe normally again. He got out his phone and called Scott to come over. Tonight was the full moon and he knew it would be dangerous for everyone around him. He needed Scott's help in tying him up and making sure he didn't hurt anyone.

He went back up to his room to internalize all the werewolf-y things he just found out. He had no idea how to proceed from here but he was going to try. He wouldn't let this turn him into a killer.

A knock on his door broke him out of his reverie and he opened it to find a smiling Scott McCall on the other side of the door.

"Look, I've been up all night reading websites, books, all of these –"

"How much Adderall have you had today?" Scott asked, amused.

"None Scott! But that's not the point. Okay? Just listen."

Scott threw his bag on the paper covered floor and sat on Stiles' bed, "Is it about the body? They find out who did it?"

"No, they're still questioning people. Even Derek Hale."

"Oh the guy in the woods that we saw the other day."

"Yeah but that's not it okay?" Stiles flailed his hands around to emphasize his point.

"What then?" Stiles now had Scott's full attention. Scott wondered if this was when Stiles would tell him about how he suddenly got good at lacrosse.

"Remember the joke from the other day? Not a joke anymore." There was a hint of defeat at the end of Stiles' statement.

Scott didn't seem to get it so Stiles continued, "The wolf. The bite in the woods. I started doing all this reading, do you even know why a wolf howls?

Stiles stood up feeling agitated. He didn't know if it was Scott's stupidity or the fact that the full moon was hours away, but Stiles was getting restless. So he started moving.

"It's a signal. When a wolf's alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack. So if you heard a wolf howling, that means others could've been nearby, maybe even a whole pack of 'em!"

"A whole pack of wolves?"

"No. Werewolves." Somehow just saying the word and imagining a whole pack of them in the woods made Stiles want to run but he shook it off.

Scott on the other hand was getting mad. He thought Stiles was going to come clean right now, and here he was talking to him about werewolves!

"Are you seriously wasting my time with this? You know I'm picking up Allison in an hour."

Stiles pulled him back before he could walk out, "You saw me on the field today Scott, I was good. Too good. So incredibly good that it's very unlikely that it was _me_ who made those shots."

"So you made a good shot." Scott deflated and went to get out again. He didn't know what Stiles was trying to do, but it was starting to feel like Stiles was boasting about his newfound talent on the field.

"No! I made an incredible shot." Stiles took Scott's bag and threw it back on the bed, "Way better than what I was able to do last year and even better than Jackass Jackson! People can't just suddenly do that overnight."

"I know." Scott muttered thinking about what Jackson said but Stiles ignored him.

"Then there's the visions, the senses, and don't you think it's weird that I haven't used Adderall since that night in the woods?"

"Okay dude!" Scott stopped him, "I can't think about this now. We'll talk tomorrow."

"What? No!" Stiles cried, "The full moon's tonight! Don't you get it?"

"What are you trying to do?" Scott asked him heatedly, "I just made first line with my best friend. I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me. Everything in my life is somehow perfect why are you trying to ruin it?"

Scott didn't know it, but his words that afternoon would stay with Stiles for a long time.

"I need your help."

And those four words would haunt Scott for weeks since that day.

"I'm cursed Scott." Stiles said finally saying what was happening to him without using the word itself.

"Scott, tonight's my first full moon. You gotta help me not kill anybody alright? And you can't do that if you're out there making googoo eyes at Allison."

Stiles stood up and looked around Scott's bag for his phone.

"I'm gonna call her right now." Stiles said once he found Scott's phone.

"What are you doing?" Scott sighed

"I'm cancelling the date –" Stiles didn't get to dial Allison's number before Scott tried to grab the phone from him.

But Stiles was already feeling angry from both Scott and the full moon. So when Scott reached for the phone, Stiles grabbed his hand and pushed him to the bed. In a flash, Stiles was on top of Scott, his fist drawn back ready to give his best friend the beating of his life. His breathing was fast and erratic and before his fist could connect with Scott's jaw, he screamed and punched the bed instead.

Breathing hard, Stiles got off Scott and tried to reign in his temper. He looked at his hands then at his wide-eyed friend who looked at him with something akin to fear.

"I'm sorry."

This time when Scott left, Stiles didn't try to stop him. Ashamed and angry with himself for letting his werewolf side take over so much that he almost hit his best friend.

With or without Scott's help, Stiles would have to figure out a way to keep himself from hurting anybody that night.

 **OoOoO**

As the sunset on his first full moon, he made sure that he had everything he thought he needed to contain himself. His left hand was handcuffed to the radiator in his room and his plan was to just wait 'til the sun comes up. His dad was already working at the station all night so he wouldn't have to worry about hurting him.

As the full moon started to rise, he could feel this throbbing pain at the back of his head that just kept getting worse. Next came the tingling in his ears and fingertips, like all the blood was rushing there wanting to get out. He could feel his blood getting hotter and his breathing becoming labored. The pain only intensified and spread thoughout his body when the clouds covering the full moon parted and the moon's light reached Stiles' room.

He let out an agonizing cry as he felt the bones on his back break and shift. The physical pain was the worst thing he's ever felt but it was nothing compared to the intensity of his emotions. He wanted to get out. To hunt. He didn't belong in here. He had to get out!

He knew that this was just the wolf in him. That he should do something to stop himself from letting it take over. But all that kept going through his head was his fight with Scott, how he looked at him with fear in his eyes, how heartbroken he was when Scott didn't believe him.

He snarled and scratched at the radiator holding him captive. He had to get out!

Somewhere in the back of his head, he remembered those spy movies where the guy breaks his own thumb to get out of handcuffs. Growling, he broke his left thumb and slipped out of the handcuffs. He didn't even feel the pain, too ecstatic that he was finally free.

He jumped out his window and howled at the full moon before running on all fours.

He could feel everything around him. The noises of the birds and squirrels on the trees as they ran away from him. He could smell the scrumptious meal laid out on the neighbour's dinner table. He marvelled at the feel of the earth on his bare feet as he ran in the woods. He felt all powerful at that moment.

Then a new scent hit him. Something that smelled of baby powder and freshly washed clothes.

" _Mr. Wiggles."_ It was a child's voice calling out for his favourite teddy bear that he left at the park. The five-year-old boy snuck out of the house because he couldn't sleep without Mr. Wiggles and his parents didn't want to help him look for it until the sun came up.

Stiles honed in on his prey standing in the middle of the street directly in front of him. The kid hasn't seen him yet because he was hidden in the trees. All Stiles could think about at that moment was how good it would feel to break those little arms. To feel his claws sinking into the child's heart and bathing himself in his blood.

"Mr. Wiggles is that you?" The little boy looked into the trees following the noise that the newly bit werewolf was making.

As the boy got closer, Stiles readied to pounce. Ready to claim his first kill.

* * *

 **AN: Honestly my favorite chapter so far. How do you guys like it? Could this be the moment that changes the color of Stiles' eyes?**


	8. Hunted

_**Before:**_

 _Stiles honed in on his prey standing in the middle of the street directly in front of him. The kid hasn't seen him yet because he was hidden in the trees. All Stiles could think about at that moment was how good it would feel to break those little arms. To feel his claws sinking into the child's heart and bathing himself in his blood._

 _"Mr. Wiggles is that you?" The little boy looked into the trees following the noise that the newly bit werewolf was making._

 _As the boy got closer, Stiles readied to pounce. Ready to claim his first kill._

 ** _Now:_**

Before he could pounce however, something pulled him back into the woods. Whatever it was, it was immune to the scratches he was giving it. They were far from the street when whatever grabbed him shoved him against a tree and roared at his face.

It was Derek Hale.

Stiles roared back and tried to claw at his face but he stopped him before he could.

"Calm down before they hear you." Derek suddenly said, "Too late. They're already here. Run."

Stiles stood up to follow him but was stopped by an arrow flying near his head and exploding into a bright light as it hit a tree. Stiles shielded his eyes from the intense brightness, he tried to run again but he was disoriented and then he felt a sharp pain on his forearm.

He screamed and tried to pull the arrow out but three men with crossbows came and pointed their weapons at him. He stared them down. Wondering if he would be able to take on all three of them so he could run away.

When the man in the middle told his partners to take him, he began to really panic. He tried to yank the arrow out again to no avail. It was buried too deep into the tree.

Then Derek came and knocked out two guys and snapped the arrow in half and took Stiles with him.

Once far enough from those men, Stiles stopped running. He was relieved that when he looked at his hands, his claws were nowhere to be found. He was human again.

"Who were they?" He asked Derek

"Hunters." He explained, "Their kind have been hunting us for centuries."

"Am I really a…a werewolf?" He knew it was pointless to ask but he couldn't help it. He wanted, no _needed_ someone else to tell it to him so he could finally believe it.

"You are." Derek said, "And the sooner you accept it. The easier it'll be for you to control your urges and your shifts. The easier it'll be for you to control the bloodlust."

Stiles thought back to what happened that night.

"I almost killed a kid." He was horrified at what he almost did. He almost killed a kid! He _wanted_ to kill the kid. He was pretty sure that if it weren't for Derek, he would have too.

"How-how do I keep myself from doing that? How can I – I want to learn how to- how to not kill people. How to not hurt anyone on full moons." He was crying now. A hopeless, guilt-ridden cry that tore at his guts and made him want to throw up.

"I can teach you." Derek said softly, remembering what his full moons were like when he was a teenager and feeling sorry for the broken boy in front of him.

"But you can't see this bite as a curse."

"How can I not when I almost killed a little boy tonight?" Stiles glared at Derek.

"But you didn't. The bite is a gift Stiles. I know you didn't believe me right now, but it is. You've been given something that most people would kill for."

"What do I do now?"

"Go home. You'll be fine the rest of the night. Meet me at the Hale house tomorrow at noon." Derek pulled him up.

"What if something happens?" Stiles asked in a panicked voice, "What if I end up hurting someone tomorrow?"

"I'll help you. You and me Stiles, we're brothers now." Derek told him before walking away.

For the second time in two days, Stiles walked back to his house. His thoughts running wild with all the things he learned that night.

 **OoOoO**

That weekend started the new normal for Stiles as a werewolf. In the morning, he would jog to clear his head and hopefully get his heart rate up without shifting. Noah was shocked by his son's actions but chalked it up to him being on first line. Then after lunch, he met Derek at the old Hale house where the older werewolf spent the next four hours treating Stiles like a punching bag. After that _training session_ , Stiles would go home and soak himself in the bath tub for hours until he could actually start to move without wincing in pain. Then he'd concentrate on werewolf research until his dad came home for dinner.

It was an exhausting routine but one that Stiles knew was a necessity. He just wished he could tell Scott about it. Several times on the weekend, he would pick up the phone and catch himself right before he dialled Scott's number. He knew that Scott was still angry and confused by Friday night, he would never forget the look of absolute fear on Scott's eyes and he hated himself for giving him a reason to feel that way. So he decided to give his best friend the weekend to cool off. He'd talk to him on Monday, apologize and then come clean about everything.

 **OoOoO**

When Stiles came to school on Monday, did his best to act normal. It was surprisingly easy since most people were already used to him being weird. Nothing unusual or ground breaking happened that day, until the bell rang and Stiles saw Scott and Allison flirting in front of the school. Obviously their date went smoothly and unless Stiles was mistaken, Scott would bombard him with all the great things about Allison as soon as they saw each other. At least he would have if Firday night never happened and he didn't try to beat up his best friend.

A red car pulled up in front of them, Stiles heard Allison say that it was her dad. With one last peck on the lips, Allison left a grinning Scott as she walked to her father's car. He was about to go over and tease Scott about it when he got a good look at Allison's father.

"It's him."

Allison's father was the one who shot him the night before. He's a hunter.

 **OoOoO**

Stiles cornered Scott in the locker room before practice. He was still all smiles after Allison left so Stiles figured this was the best time to talk to him.

"So, hey." Lame, but he couldn't think of anything else to say

"Hey." Scott said not looking up at him

Stiles sighed, he knew this was going to be tough, "Look Scott. I'm sorry about Friday night. I – I really truly am."

"What happened to you Stiles?" Scott looked at Stiles and noticed for the first time how different he was, he couldn't quite put his finger on it but something was different with his best friend.

"Not just on Friday. These past few days, you've been acting really weird and keeping secrets from me. Whatever's going on with you, you can tell me. You can trust me Stiles."

This was it. He could tell him right now the truth, he could tell him so he wouldn't have to be alone. They were brothers, Scott wouldn't look at him differently if he found out the truth.

"I'm gonna tell you something but you gotta promise not to freak out alright?" He could do this. He could trust Scott.

Scott, thinking that Stiles was gonna come clean about everything decided he would help him out by lightening the tension in the air, "Okay, I promise. Just as long as you don't tell me you're a werewolf."

He meant it as a joke, but Stiles tensed at those words and instantly remembered something else that Scott said.

" _What are you trying to do?" Scott asked him heatedly, "I just made first line with my best friend. I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me. **Everything in my life is somehow perfect why are you trying to ruin it?** "_

Scott did have everything he wished for at the beginning of the year. He had a girlfriend and he was on first line. Telling him the truth about his new werewolf status would only confuse him and drag him down into this messed up world he now was a part of.

Telling Scott the truth would be selfish.

Thankfully though, before he had to lie, Coach blew his whistle and called the team out on the field.

"I'll tell you some other time okay?" Stiles said and ran off before Scott could stop him.

He didn't know how he could possibly do this without Scott.

* * *

 **AN: Ofcourse I wouldn't make Stiles a killer this early on, I'm not a monster haha**

 **So how do you guys feel about Sciles right now?**


	9. Yoda Derek

Lacrosse practice was more stressful than usual. Stiles had to prove he was worthy to be on first line while trying to keep his wolf from coming out and murdering everyone on the field. Like yesterday, he stood in line lacrosse stick in hand and waited for his turn to take a shot. The only difference was now he was on first line and Jackson would be on defense with the long stick.

"Don't get angry Stiles. Don't get angry." He kept chanting in a low voice while waiting his turn. He only hoped it would work.

Hardly anyone made it past Jackson. Scott was taken down pretty badly but what surprised Stiles (and everyone else) was Jackson helping him up. He didn't even help Danny who was his best friend! Stiles knew something was up with those two but before he could dwell on the subject further, it was his turn to take a shot.

He took a deep breath and once again reminded himself to stay calm. No matter how much Jackass Jackson's smirk taunted him. And how loud Lydia's voice was as she cheered for her boyfriend.

The assistant coach blew his whistle and Stiles ran towards the goal. He tried to sidestep Jackson but he swung his lacrosse stick and whacked him in the face. His nose was bleeding when he fell on the ground. He could vaguely hear Jackson asking him if he still wanted to be on first line but all he could focus on was the blood dripping down his nose. That and the lingering scent of Lydia's perfume on the smirking blonde.

He was being challenged and his wolf demanded that he fight back. He wanted to beat Jackson into submission. To show him who was the strongest, the best. His eyes shined a brilliant gold and his breathing picked up as he thought of how good Jackson would look drowning in his own blood. He thought of how relieved Lydia would be that she was no longer chained to the good for nothing bastard.

" _Stiles calm down."_ It was Derek.

He tried to listen to him but all Stiles could hear was Jackson telling his friends that he was going to get Spaztic Stiles out of first line and the sound of the audience laughing at him.

" _Stiles!"_ Derek was trying to reach him again but it wasn't working.

He gripped the stick harder, readier than he ever had been to give Jackson the beating he deserved. It wouldn't take long, just two minutes tops and Jackson would be begging for mercy. Then a piercing sound reached his ears and he dropped back to the ground and covered his ears.

" _Dog whistle."_ The shrill noise was replaced by the sound of Derek's voice, _"Perfect for knocking some sense into misbehaving dogs."_

"Help me." He pleaded having realized that he was about half a second into murdering Jackson on the field.

" _Focus on your heart rate. You used to have panic attacks right?"_ Derek continued, _"How do you control that?"_

"I control my breathing and think of my dad." He said quietly knowing that Derek could hear him

" _Try it now."_

As Coach spoke 'motivations' in his ear, Stiles did what Derek said and closed his eyes. He thought of his father. Of those nights they would ride around the cruiser and his dad would teach him what the police codes say. Of those times his father would tell him he had the makings of a good detective. When he opened his eyes, they were back to their normal brown and he smiled.

"I can do it Coach." He said standing up and getting back in line.

He stood in line again and when the assistant coach blew the whistle, he ran straight at Jackson. Jackson charged for him but Stiles turned at the last moment running right past the confused captain and scoring a goal.

He jumped and cheered as he watched the ball go into the net. He made a shot and he managed to pull back his wolf. He looked around again and when he saw a man wearing a leather jacket walking away from the field, said in a quiet voice that only one with super hearing could hear.

"Thank you."

Maybe he could do this after all.

 **OoOoO**

After lacrosse practice Stiles went to meet up with Derek, it was all he could think about so he didn't notice the look he was getting from two people.

One was a look of worry and the other of suspicion.

The two of them watched his reaction when he first fell. He was breathing heavily and looked as if he would pounce at Jackson at any moment. He radiated this sort of dangerous vibe that had Jackson backing away from him though the smirk never left his face. Then in a flash he started breathing normally again as if everything was normal.

"I'll help you figure out what's wrong with Stiles but only because I'm worried about him. Whatever we find, we keep it to ourselves first and ask him before going to anyone else."

Jackson just smirked and slapped Scott's shoulder, "Whatever you say little man."

 **OoOoO**

"Oof." Stiles groaned picking himself up off the floor for the nth time that evening. It was seven o'clock which meant he's been at Derek's for two hours now.

Two hours of getting beat up and being thankful that he had supernatural healing.

"You're not even trying Stiles." Derek shook his head

"I don't even know why we're doing this. You said you would help me control this, how does beating me up help with that?"

"I'm helping you become stronger. Strong enough that you won't be constantly overpowered by your werewolf side." Derek explained, "You're a werewolf now which means the wolf is a part of you. If you want to truly be able to control it, you have to be one with it. You can't just push it away and hope it never comes back out because by doing so you're only making yourself weaker."

"So I'm like Bruce Banner."

"Who?" Derek asked

"You know, the Incredible Hulk." Stiles waved his arms around to emphasize his point, "I have to control my anger or I go crazy."

"This isn't a joke Stiles!" Derek roared and Stiles fought his urge to back down, "The Alpha will come for you. He won't stop until you're a part of his pack. You have to understand this because you're the only chance I have left of finding him!"

"What Alpha?" Stiles watched Derek tense and he knew the other werewolf never meant to say that word.

"It's no one. Go home Stiles it's late." He started going up the charred staircase but Stiles stopped him.

"No. Okay. Not until you tell me what the hell is going on here!" Stiles was mad. He let Derek throw him around the room like a rag doll for two hours and he'd be damned if after all that Derek would still keep things from him.

He thought back to all the werewolf research that he's done before and after the bite. He thought about all the mentions of an Alpha and what it means if you're a werewolf.

"There's another one isn't there?" He said, "The one that bit me."

Derek was about to yell at him some more. To tell him that the Alpha wasn't his business. But then he saw something in the boy's stance. In the way he tensed his jaw and stared him down despite knowing that he was no match for him.

It reminded him of Laura.

He could still remember when his sister stared him down like Stiles was doing right now. He told her he was going back to Beacon Hills with her but she was firm on the decision that he stayed in New York. Laura's gaze was firm and strong, she wouldn't let Derek go back with her even if it meant chaining him down herself. She didn't even need to use her Alpha status to get him to agree.

Seeing his sister in Stiles' stance reminded Derek of how alone he truly was. The last family he had left and she was taken away from him as well. He couldn't avenge the death of his family in the fire, but he could avenge Laura's death at the hands of the Alpha. He could do it and this time he didn't have to be alone. So instead of answering, all he did was show the young beta the colour of his eyes.

The cold electric blue shocked Stiles into flashing his own gold ones. It was the only answer he needed. If Derek's wolf eyes were blue, then he wasn't the red eyed beast that bit and turned him in the woods.

* * *

 **AN: YES! School is finally over and I am so relieved!**

 **So I think I would cast Meghan Ory as Laura. I know she wasn't the one who played Laura in the show but I think she'd make a good Laura.  
**

 **Also question: is it color or colour?**


	10. Star Wars Club

The other day with Derek left Stiles with a lot to think about. Not only was he a smaller, skinnier version of the Hulk, but there was another werewolf running around Beacon Hills biting teenagers. Stiles didn't know why the Alpha hadn't come for him as a human. To at least talk to him and convince him to join the Pack. From all the research he's done about werewolves and wolves, he knew that both were stronger with a Pack and that lone wolves were more likely to end up dead. So why didn't the Alpha take him? Was it because of Derek? Or was it something else about the Alpha that keeps it from seeking him as a human?

The older werewolf didn't tell him anything else about the Alpha after showing him the color of his eyes leaving Stiles to figure it out on his own. And he was determined to do so.

So he got started on his crime board. He printed off everything he could find about Alphas, both wolves and werewolves, and determined which sounded the most realistic. The older and rarer the source, the more likely it was to be true. He found that Alphas were the strongest, fastest, and the best of the wolves. But other than that, he couldn't find anything credible.

He knew the only way to find out anything real was to go to Derek himself. Something he didn't plan to do unless the other werewolf showed him that he trusted Stiles. His father always told him that a police officer's success in the field relied as much on their skills as much as it did on their partners. You had to trust your partner and they had to trust you, because without trust, the possibility of dying only got bigger. So Stiles was determined to stay away from Derek until the grumpy old werewolf learned to trust him. He figured it wouldn't be long before they talked though. He still needed werewolf lessons and Derek admitted that he needed Stiles' help to track down the Alpha.

Even in school he couldn't stop thinking about the Alpha and the million questions surrounding that five letter word that seemed to awaken his werewolf side. He tried not to let his distraction show, especially since he and Scott have started talking again.

"Dude I promise when we have free time," Scott said, "I will watch Star Wars. On a loop if that will make you happy."

"You better, alright? Because if we finish sophomore year and you still have no idea who Obi Wan Kenobi is, I swear I will post that horrible picture you have with all those..."

In a flash, Scott grabbed Stiles' head and put his hand over his mouth.

"Okay! I get it Stiles! Just please don't talk about _that_."

Stiles laughed thinking about that wonderful _wonderful_ summer filled with blackmail material. Scott was practically on top of Stiles in the hallway when Macy from Math class, strolled up to them. The brunette narrowed her eyes at the two before shaking her head, as if coming to the conclusion that it was better not to ask.

After the two boys composed themselves, they walked to Scott's locker so he could drop off his stuff.

"Why don't we just go to my house after school?" Stiles said leaning against the metal lockers, "You haven't stayed over in a while and my dad's working late again tonight."

"Sorry dude I can't. I already have plans." Scott wouldn't look at Stiles when he said this, too busy putting his biology book away.

"Oh? You got plans with Allison?"

Stiles still had no idea what to do about Allison's father being the werewolf hunter who shot him on the night of his first full moon. For the most part, it seemed like Allison was oblivious to her father's business ventures which meant he was less likely to find his best friend's girlfriend standing behind the gun pointed at his head. But, if she did know about werewolves, then he would have to be extra careful around her. And since he didn't really have this whole werewolf thing under control, he resolved to just stay away from the brunette as much as possible considering the fact that she was dating his best friend.

"No, actually I have plans with Jackson."

For a second, all Stiles heard was the sound of Scott slamming his locker door closed. Because there was no way he just said what thought he said.

"And I dance around my room at night wearing a pink tutu and a tiara on my head. Come on dude, seriously just stay over tonight."

"Stiles, I'm hanging out with Jackson after school."

Stiles stared at his friend, then he moved in closer and pressed his face up close to Scott's head. Like he was looking for something to prove his friend was lying.

"Stiles dude what the hell?!"

"You're not lying." Stiles stepped away from the frozen Scott.

"Why are you not lying? Since when do you hang out with Jackass Jackson?"

Scott shook his head and walked to the exit doors followed by Stiles, "Since now. Jackson's helping me with my lacrosse. He's gonna be giving me tips and tricks that I can use on Saturday's game."

"Are you serious?!" Stiles screamed ignoring all the stares he was getting, "Have you forgotten what a complete asswipe he is?"

"Stiles that doesn't matter now, okay? I'm just asking him about lacrosse."

Stiles looked at Scott like he just betrayed him. Ever since middle school, Jackson was their enemy. He was arrogant and constantly belittled everyone who wasn't rich and they disliked him immediately. Then it got worse for Stiles when he started going out with Lydia. So why would Jackson willingly tutor Scott about lacrosse? When Scott saved all those shots at the try outs, Stiles was scared that Jackson would get worse with the shoves and insults, but instead he's taking Scott under his wing?

Then he remembered the tryout the day before, the way Jackson dropped his asshole persona and helped Scott after he fell. Something he didn't do for his best friend or anyone else. How long have they been hanging out? A week? A month? Since school started? Or has it been going on as far as summer? Was Jackson the one who helped Scott with lacrosse practice in the summer? He couldn't remember Scott asking him to go with him on those days he went for practice, sure he told Stiles he was practicing and that he could come if he wanted to, but it didn't seem like Scott really wanted him there. If he did, he could have used any leverage he could use to get Stiles to come with him. Did Scott not want him to go because Jackson was there?

Stiles didn't know. And the uncertainty forced him to step away from the curly haired boy who has been his best friend since he was four years old. Betrayal and hurt and vulnerability shone through brown eyes as he stared at Scott McCall as though he was a stranger.

"Stiles."

Stiles ignored his friend and walked away as fast as he could. He practically ran to Roscoe waiting for him in the almost deserted parking lot.

His mind was racing almost as fast as his heart as he thought about what just happened. He couldn't lose Scott. He was his best friend. His brother. No matter what happens to him on full moons, he can't lose him. But what if he had? What if all his worst fears are coming true? What if Scott was replacing him with Jackson? He should've been better at lacrosse. He should've practiced harder, learned more tricks. Then maybe Scott wouldn't have to go to Jackson for sports tips.

He tried to focus his heart rate. He could feel himself getting more and more agitated as he kept seeing Jackson helping Scott on repeat in his mind. He imagined them laughing together like the best of friends. Scott being invited to all of Jackson's parties. Scott going to all those parties without him. Scott sitting on the popular table at lunch while Stiles was left at their old table.

He could feel his heart being crushed as those images kept going and going in his head.

When he felt that familiar tingling in his fingers, he shifted gears. He banished those images of Scott and Jackson and frantically searched his mind for his father and some of his mother too, slowly his heart rate calmed and the tingling went away.

He was so focused on his heart rate that he almost missed the sound of a body hitting the ground. He turned around and saw a blonde girl on the parking lot ground writhing and twitching in pain. He ran to the fallen girl, his mind now more focused on the blonde rather than his best friend.

"Hey, hey you okay?" He reached the girl and had a momentary panic attack when he saw she was having a seizure. He had no idea what to do, so he got his phone and quickly dialed 911 and then told the operator what was happening. The operator told him to stay with the girl and keep her from hitting her head while timing the convulsions.

"Okay, okay, shouldn't I put something in her mouth or something? I think I saw that on TV once."

 _"No. Don't put anything in her mouth! Just keep her from hurting herself."_

Stiles nodded and placed the girl's head on his lap to keep it steady.

"Hey," He said to the girl, "I just called 911 okay? You're going to be just fine."

The girl's seizure lasted about three minutes. Stiles stayed with her the whole time and yelled at any idiot who came to watch and record the episode on his phone. When she stopped seizing and the girl wanted to get up, Stiles held her down, he forgot to ask the operator if she should stay put or if she could stand up after the seizure so he just kept her there until the paramedics arrived. He just held her hand and talked about the one thing he can never stop talking about: Star Wars. The girl never said anything, she just looked at him and listened to him ramble on about the Force and Storm Troopers and how insane it was that there wasn't a Star Wars club at school.

It wasn't until the ambulance came and took the girl that Stiles realized he forgot to ask her name and tell her his. The paramedics told him she would be fine and that he did the right thing by calling them, he could calm down now. But he couldn't calm down. Even though he knew there was nothing he could do for the girl, he still felt concerned and responsible for her. So he got on his jeep and followed the ambulance to the hospital.

He didn't know who the girl was. But he could vaguely recall seeing her at the back of Harris' class doing her best to not attract attention from the sadistic chemistry teacher. He remembered this one time that he sat in the back away from Scott to see if that would make Harris quit picking on him. Ofcourse, it didn't work, no matter where he was and who he sat with, Harris called him out. But the blonde was there, warning him when Harris was looking at his table.

 **OoOoO**

Meanwhile back in school, Scott stared at the exit doors after Stiles practically ran away from him. He knew Stiles wouldn't be happy about his plans with Jackson but seeing the betrayal in his eyes hurt him more than anything and he started wondering if he really was doing the right thing with Jackson.

Sure he was doing it to find out what was wrong with Stiles, but what if by doing this, he loses his best friend?

* * *

 **AN: What do you guys think Stiles will do if he finds out I like Star Trek more than Star Wars? *le gasp***

 **But I still love Star Wars, just not as much as Star Trek**


	11. Erica

Melissa was the one who greeted Stiles at the hospital, "She's okay now Stiles. Her doctor gave her something for the seizure, she's just resting now."

"Okay, that's good." Stiles said feeling relieved

"Would you like to talk to her?"

"I just wanna know how she's doing." Stiles said, "I feel like I should."

Melissa smiled and led him to Room 202, she knocked on the door and slowly pushed it open.

"Erica?" She said and Stiles was relieved that he was spared the awkwardness of having to ask her himself, "You have a visitor."

Stiles took a deep breath and stepped inside the room while Melissa waited outside. Erica was lying on her side, her back facing the door as she curled herself into a ball. At first, Stiles thought that she was cold and was about to ask Melissa where the blankets were when he heard soft, barely there sobs. She was crying. And he was sure that if it weren't for his werewolf hearing, he wouldn't have known.

"Hey," He said staying at the foot of her bed not wanting to get too close in case she got scared, "My name's Stiles. Umm, I was the one who found you."

Still, Erica said nothing though her cries have stopped now.

"Melissa, I mean Nurse McCall said you're gonna be fine. So umm, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Stiles could practically feel the awkwardness weighing down the air in the room, almost choking the words out of him in a desperate effort to fill the silence.

"So umm, listen. You probably want to rest, but uhh if you need anything you can just call me. I mean not me, obviously not me cause I'm not a doctor, but you can call Nurse McCall, she's really good. At taking care of people and at yelling at them. Personally, it's more of the latter for me. Apparently I'm maddening. Anyway, I think I've made enough of a fool of myself for one day, so I'll just go jump off the hospital roof. We could be neighbors here if I don't die of the shame or the fall, whichever comes first."

Wincing at the word vomit and at how profoundly he humiliated himself in front of a total stranger, Stiles reached the door knob.

"Is Star Wars really that good?" He turned around and found Erica sitting up on her bed.

Encouraged, Stiles moved closer and sat on the end of her bed, "Only if you like awesome action scenes, beautiful dames, and the most shocking plot twist ever!"

The little giggle that came from the blonde encouraged Stiles to keep being his goofy self.

"You know what?" Stiles said, "I am making you my mission starting today. I will come back here with popcorn and Star Wars and I'll binge watch it with you. I could even bring my light saber if the hospital doesn't confiscate it."

"Thank you Stiles," Erica laughed, "Not just for helping me earlier but also for making sure I was okay and going out of your way to make me feel better."

"Anytime, as a matter of fact." Stiles searched his pockets for any piece of paper and found an old receipt for gum. He walked over to the table beside Erica's bed and picked up a pen.

"Here is my number. You can call me anytime you need anything or if you just wanna talk. And if you lose this paper, you can ask Nurse McCall for my number. Pretty sure she has it in her phone under the name _Hooligan_ or _Pest_ or if I get to her phone before you ask her, it could be under _Favorite Son_."

Erica giggled and Stiles left the room feeling a lot better after his sort-of-fight with Scott.

 **OoOoO**

After leaving the hospital, Stiles decided to drive around town for a while, to clear his head and compose the I'm-sorry-for-over-reacting speech he had to give to Scott. Looking back, he could see how he might have over-reacted just a little bit. Getting sports lessons wasn't the same as hanging out, in fact it was more like a tutoring session. And even if it was actually friendly, then it didn't mean Scott would replace Stiles. It just meant that Scott would have a friend that Stiles hated.

As usual, his trusty steed led him to the same place that made him feel all sorts of emotions. Longing, frustration, hopelessness, dreaminess, and most of all love.

He stopped the jeep across the street from the Martin house, imagining what it would be like to be invited by Lydia to her house. He didn't care if it was for a party, or a group study thing, heck he didn't even care if he was hired to clean the pool! Just knowing that Lydia Martin wanted _him_ in her house for whatever reason was enough to keep him happy.

He was still day dreaming of living with Lydia in a nice house with a couple of children running around when he heard someone scream from inside the house. The scream was followed by the sound of glass shattering and when Stiles recognized the voice as Lydia's, he got out of his jeep and ran to the house. Ready to take out anyone who hurt her. His eyes flashed into its now familiar golden hue when he saw the front door open and Jackson shrug on his jacket as he stepped outside. Stiles stopped by the hedge in front of the Martin house not understanding what was going on. Then he saw Lydia angrily walk to the door. Her eyeliner marked the path of her tears across her cheeks and her hand paled with how hard she was grabbing the door.

"Get back here!" She screamed at the boy climbing into his Porsche, "We're not done talking about this. Jackson!"

The roar of the Porsche was the only response she got as the boy sped out of the driveway. Lydia was left standing in her doorway watching the spot where her boyfriend's car was only three seconds ago. She stayed there for five more seconds before regaining her composure and wiping her cheeks and slamming the door closed, unwilling to let anyone know how upset she really was.

Meanwhile, Stiles fumed as he watched the whole thing unfold. The boy barely noticed the claws and fangs that unsheathed themselves in response to the anger growing in his heart. He let his animal side take over, getting down on hands and feet as he chased after the speeding car. The wind rushed past him and all his senses focused on nothing but the red car ahead of him and the blonde lacrosse captain driving it.

First, Jackson took Lydia. For years he watched as the other boy kissed and hurt the girl he was in love with and he couldn't do anything about it. Then he took Scott, seducing him with the glory of being the sports star. Now, he made Lydia cry again. He hurt the girl he's been in love with for years again and again. He made her cry. He broke her heart.

And Stiles would make him pay.

Letting his anger fuel his speed, Stiles caught up to the speeding car. This close he could smell Jackson's expensive cologne and hear the asshole music he was playing on the radio. Growling at the apparent disregard the boy had for the crying girl he left on her doorstep, Stiles leapt and grabbed the bumper of Jackson's car.

With strength that he didn't know he had, he pulled the car back and forced it to stop. He heard the sound of bone popping followed by Jackson's cry of pain. The sounds made him angrier and he wanted to hear him cry again. He held on to the bumper for a few more seconds, not really sure what he was going to do but knowing that Jackson had to pay. Then his hand moved and accidentally brushed against the exhaust pipe. He hissed in pain at the burn on his arm. The pain was quick and sharp but it was enough to get him to snap out of his werewolf trance and remember where he was. He shook off the last voice in his head telling him to kill Jackson and ran from the scene as fast as he could.

He was breathing hard when he made it back to his jeep, his heart racing from the adrenaline pumping through his veins reminding him of what he'd just done. Furious with himself, he slammed his hands repeatedly on the steering wheel. He did it again. He let his emotions get the best of him and this time, he got someone hurt. It didn't matter that it was Jackson, he hurt someone and he didn't know what to do.

Once he calmed down, he grabbed his phone and called 911 to tell them about an accident he saw. He stayed at that spot until he heard sirens and saw the ambulance rushing to Jackson's car.

When the ambulance drove past him again, he heard the medics talking about what happened to Jackson.

 _"...dislocated shoulder. Probably hit the brakes too soon while speeding."_

 _"He's lucky, it could have been worse."_

* * *

 **AN: Well Jackson had to break his shoulder somehow. I'm also thinking about maybe making a TW Oneshot story on here. It would have TW one shots and some outtakes from Shifted. What do you guys think?**


	12. Big Decisions

Stiles was still panting by the time he reached the Hale house. The scene with Jackson's car kept playing through his head and it scared the hell out of him knowing that he was even capable of something like that. Ofcourse he knew that being a werewolf meant he had super everything and that he was angrier than most, but knowing it from books was far different from experiencing it. If he could stop a speeding car by simply pulling on it, how much more can he do? How much more _will_ he do?

"Derek!" He yelled. He didn't care about his earlier notion that Derek had to trust him first before they talked again. He needed help and there was only one person who could give him that.

He wasn't sure if Derek actually lived in the Hale house, it looked abandoned and not at all fit to live in. At first he thought that maybe Derek lived in an apartment somewhere in town and only took their training here so they wouldn't wreck his much nicer house. He really wished that wasn't the case. If Derek wasn't here, he had no idea what he would do. Or who could stop him if all these emotions got the best of him again and he ended up hurting someone worse than he did Jackson.

There was a pile of freshly dug dirt by the side of his house. He could tell it was fresh not only by looking at it, but by the strong smell of something buried inside. He didn't know what it was, but the horrible stench was enough to keep his mind on the here and now.

When Derek came out and talked to him, Stiles told him everything that happened.

"This is the third time in one week that you went out of control." Derek said, "The first time it was because of the full moon, but yesterday and today? I don't understand how you keep slipping."

"I know." Stiles replied, "I'm sorry."

"I don't care how sorry you are Stiles. You don't have control which means you're a risk to our kind, especially with that family of hunters around. You have to stay out of situations that might affect your control."

Stiles frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that until you learn control, you can't play lacrosse."

Stiles' jaw dropped. He had to give up lacrosse? But he only just got to play. For once his father could sit in the stands and watch him actually play instead of sitting on the bench. This was his one chance to impress Lydia and make his dad proud. How could he give that up?

The look in Derek's eyes however let him know how serious the older werewolf was about this and he knew he was right. It was only his first official week as a werewolf and already he slipped twice. The second time he actually got someone physically hurt! If he slipped a third time, he was afraid of what he'd do. Afraid that he'd do more than just cause a car accident. And as much as he loved to play lacrosse, he loved not being a killer a lot more.

"Okay."

 **OoOoO**

Scott was feeling kind of nervous and scared and anxious. He was starting to reconsider this whole Jackson thing. Maybe there was a better way to help Stiles with whatever was going on with him. He didn't have to go to Jackson. Stiles' reaction after he told him about Jackson really bothered him. His best friend looked at him like he was a completely different person. The look on Stiles' face was enough to make Scott feel like the worse scum that ever lived.

That settles it, he was going to bail on Jackson, he can find out what Stiles' secret was on his own. He could go with his first plan and ask his mom about Stiles' symptoms without letting her know it was Stiles. He could say it was a school work or extra credit, anything to help his best friend without getting either of them in trouble or involving Jackson.

Decision made, Scott got started on a packed dinner for his mom. He couldn't really cook per se, but he could give it a shot, maybe he was a natural cook.

Twelve minutes later, the pan was in the trashcan and Scott was on his bike to the nearest diner.

 **OoOoO**

The hospital was quiet and empty save for the few nurses walking around and the odd patient or so. Scott was used to this, being a small town hospital, Beacon Memorial was hardly flooded with sick and injured people. Usually it's just people who get into the odd accident or so and patients with fever, pneumonia or some other easily treated illness. Sometime Scott would wonder if his mom's low salary was partly due to the hospital not getting a lot of patients. After thinking that, a part of him would wish that the hospital get more patients, maybe that would get his mom paid more.

This was a thought that Scott McCall would regret in the days to come.

"Hey Scott." A blonde nurse at the nurse's station greeted Scott as soon as she saw him

"Hey Emily." Scott smiled. Emily was a young nurse who started working at the hospital about six months after his mom did so it was kind of up to his mom to show Emily around and tell her how things were done. He would never tell anyone this but back when he was younger and Emily would babysit him, he had just the tiniest crush on the blonde.

"Is my mom here?"

"No Honey," The nurse replied, "She's with a patient. It's a VIP so she might take a while."

Scott was disappointed he couldn't see his mom and ask her about Stiles' symptoms but he was used to this. Times like these were just further proof of how good his mom was at her job.

"Oh, could you just tell her I stopped by and give her her dinner. You can help yourself to the extra cheese burger there if you want."

Emily laughed and accepted the bag, "Always a treat when you visit Scott. Is there anything else I could help you with?"

Scott thought for a minute and said, "Actually, how much do you know about —"

The sound of ambulance sirens interrupted Scott. They were on the first floor near the emergency room so Scott could hear the sirens loud and clear.

"What's that?" He asked

"Probably an accident or something." Emily frowned, "That's what we usually get. Though I don't know why everyone's panicking."

"Terence!" The blonde called the attention of a nurse coming from the ER, "What's going on?"

"Car accident, some kid out on a joy ride who hit the brakes too soon while going too fast. The big deal is that it's the Whitmore boy and he denies everything."

Emily and Terence started talking about their opinions on the Whitmore boy while Scott just stared at the ER door. It seemed as if fate really wanted him to talk to Jackson because here he was only a few feet from the other boy in a situation where he couldn't hurt Scott as retaliation for him reneging on their deal.

Quietly he slipped away from the preoccupied nurses and, abandoning his mother's golden rule when visiting the hospital, slipped into the emergency room.

There were two other patients in the ER other than Jackson who was getting treated by a doctor.

"I already told you it wasn't my fault!" Screamed Jackson, "The car malfunctioned and stopped suddenly."

Scott watched the doctor treat Jackson, he wondered what happened to him. Ever since Jackson got his precious Lamborghini, he never missed a chance to show it off and how great he was. There was even a rumour going around (probably spread by Jackson himself) that he was a street racer. Even without that rumour, he found it impossible that Jackson would get into a car accident in a straight road with no traffic.

Once the doctor was done with Jackson, Scott took a deep breath and prepared to piss off one of the biggest hot heads he's ever met.

* * *

 **AN: I am so sorry for being gone like a month. My grandfather died a few weeks ago and he was laid to rest a couple of days after my last update. My family all came home for him and I haven't been able to write since.**

 **Anyways, enough about the sad stuff. Scott does tell Jackson that he's done with their deal but I won't be putting in their conversation 'til later. The next updates might come in a little slow because I have some catching up to do, but don't worry I'm not done with this fic. I've got big plans for all of this going up to the last season.**


	13. Everything Falls Apart

"What do you mean you can't play the game tomorrow night?" Coach said as Stiles followed him into his office.

"Exactly that Coach. I can't play the game tomorrow night." Stiles sighed. He knew that being a werewolf would have its problems but he never would have thought that playing Lacrosse would be one of them. Even Michael J. Fox was able to play basketball in that ridiculous werewolf movie Teen Wolf! But he knew he had to do it so he wouldn't end the night washing blood off his claws.

"You mean you can't wait to play the game tomorrow night."

"Coach I'm not playing." Stiles said, "I want to focus on my studies for a bit."

"Why?" Coach asked him

"Because I am a student Coach. You know, from the root word _study_. It's kinda why I go to school." Stiles continued.

Coach looked extremely baffled that someone would actually prefer studies over lacrosse.

"Listen Stilinski," Coach stood up looking at Stiles with the most serious look he could muster, "Part of being first line is taking on the responsibility of being first line. And if you can't shoulder that responsibility then you're back on the bench until you're ready."

"So if I miss this game, you're taking me off first line?"

Coach shrugged his shoulders as if to say it was out of his hands.

"Well then I've always kinda loved the bench, you know. I even carved my name on it. I have a designated bench." Stiles grinned. His own father couldn't bribe or threaten him, Coach Finstock was nothing.

Shock was written all over Coach's face, clearly not expecting Stiles to back down that easily. Stiles dared to pat Coach's shoulder before leaving his office.

"Good talk Coach. See you on the bench."

He'd just made it out of Coach's office when the older man called after him.

"If you don't play tomorrow night, McCall's joining you on the bench."

This made Stiles stop and turn around sporting the look of shock that was on the Coach's face less than a minute ago.

"You're benching Scott if I don't play?"

Now Coach Finstock was the one with the self-satisfied grin. It was the first game of the season and there was no way he was losing one of his surprise talents especially with Jackson partially out of commission.

Stiles wanted so badly to yell 'So what?!' to at least get Coach to wipe that stupid grin off his face, but he couldn't because not only would Scott be devastated he was out of first line, but he might hate Stiles as well for being the reason he got benched. He couldn't do that to him but he also couldn't play until he got his wolf under control.

He didn't even answer Coach, he just left the locker room and headed for class his head filled with the different choices he had to make.

 **OoOoO**

The whole thing at Coach's office made Stiles uncomfortable. The main reason he hasn't told Scott about his _'condition'_ was so his friend wouldn't get sucked into the werewolf mess that was now his life. He wanted Scott to stay away from all this stuff so he could live a normal life. But now, thanks to Coach's ultimatum, Scott was already a casualty of his werewolf curse and he didn't even know about it yet!

Stiles sighed. Maybe this was a sign, maybe it was time for him to tell Scott about everything. Maybe with the help of his best friend, the two of them could come up with a way for him to not play on Saturday without letting it affect Scott's spot on first line.

The previous night Stiles waited for Scott on his front porch to tell him about his plan to skip the first game. Scott ofcourse asked him why and tried to convince him to reconsider but Stiles wouldn't budge and eventually Scott agreed to help him. They talked about what Stiles could say to get Coach to let him skip this game but of all the scenarios they pictured, neither of them thought Scott could even be remotely affected by his choice.

After leaving Coach's office, he saw Scott in the hallway flirting it up with Allison again. Since finding out the truth about the girl's father, Stiles has been watching her to figure out how much she knew but so far she seemed clueless about his father's exploits. He really hoped that was true because with all the things he had to adjust to, he didn't need the added problem of being hunted down by his best friend's girl.

Pushing thoughts of werewolves and manipulative coaches out of his mind for the moment, Stiles focused his attention on the couple by the stairs. Scott really did look happy and apparently, Allison was happy with him as well. He knew he shouldn't use his _'powers'_ to listen in on other people's conversations, but he was kinda curious about Scott's ability to talk to girls. Before Allison, the most that either of them have spoken to a member of the opposite sex for romantic reasons was Freshman year when Stiles started out trying to ask Lydia to the movies and ended up giving her and Jackson the movie tickets he bought.

So shamelessly, Stiles tilted his head and focused his hearing on the lovebirds.

" _No, no. It's just my mom, just nothing."_ Allison looked worried and possibly wondering why Scott would refer to his mom as nothing.

" _I mean it's nothing."_ Stiles snickered, this was definitely the boy he grew up with, _"Uhh, I'm never busy for you."_

Stiles didn't know whether to laugh or thank Scott for still being a proud member of Dorkville along with him.

"… _I wanted you to know that I'm coming to see you play tomorrow."_

And there it was. One more reason why Stiles couldn't just let Scott get benched. It would be his first game where his mom and his girlfriend would be able to watch him play. He'd be wrecked if after all his excitement, he would just show up to Coach telling him he was benched for the entire season because of his best friend.

" _You are?"_

" _And we're all going out afterwards. You, me, Lydia, Jackson. It's gonna be great. Tell Stiles to come to."_

Before either Scott or Allison could turn around and see him, he bolted and ran the other way. Of all the things he would be worrying about on Saturday, the group date thing just had to be one of them? And worse, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to say 'no' to Scott if he asked him. How could he when things between them were rocky enough as it is?

Gaah! Can't a family of beavers just eat the school to save him from all this misery?!

 **OoOoO**

With all the stuff going around his head Stiles wasn't at all surprised when his head started throbbing. His head was slumped down on his desk when the bell rang and the sound of stomping feet and excited chatter followed the teenagers leaving the history classroom.

Even knowing he would be late for his next class Stiles couldn't bring himself to get up. He was just so tired. Maybe he could just skip English and go sleep in his jeep.

He was seriously considering this course of action when he felt someone's tentative hands nudging him awake.

"Stiles?" A girl's voice was saying

Stiles only grunted in response.

"Stiles wake up."

When the girl wouldn't stop and the warning bell rang Stiles was forced to face reality and get up. He now only had ten minutes to get to his next class. He looked up and was surprised when he saw who woke him up.

"Erica?" She had her hair up in a messy ponytail and was wearing a striped blue sweater.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still in the hospital?"

Stiles didn't realize how rude he sounded until the smile vanished from Erica's face and she hugged her books closer to her chest.

"No, uhh. I didn't mean it like that." Stiles said, "I just meant I was planning on going to the hospital after school to see you. I didn't think they'd discharge you so soon."

Erica didn't smile again but her guard wasn't as high up as two seconds ago.

"They only kept me for a couple of hours to check me over."

Stiles was about to ask more questions about that before Erica cut in and asked him why he was sleeping in class.

"I'm waiting for the next class to start."

"Isn't English your next class?"

Stiles looked at her curiously, "How did you know my next class was English?"

Erica blushed and hid her face, Stiles could sense how uncomfortable she was so he dropped the matter for now.

"I've been trying to catch up on some sleep. I got a lot to think about."

"Like how you're missing the game tomorrow?"

"How'd you – "

"It's kind of all over the school next to Jackson's injury."

Stiles wasn't shocked for too long. Beacon Hills High School was worse than TMZ when it came to gossip.

"Is it true?"

Stiles sighed, "It's complicated."

Erica looked conflicted for a second then she took a deep breath and said, "Well, maybe it would help if you told me on your way to English."

"Don't you have this class?"

Erica shrugged and said, "It's fine. They won't notice me anyway."

Stiles was so shocked by her confession that he didn't even notice Erica walking out the door. Quickly gathering his things, Stiles followed the upset blonde.

"Hey, listen – "

"Why won't you be playing tomorrow?"

Stiles wanted so badly to ask her what she meant in the classroom about people not noticing her. He could practically feel her sadness as she said those words. He couldn't explain it; it was almost as if her sadness was an actual tangible feeling in the air. He wasn't sure if it was because of his werwolf senses or if Erica's pain was just so overwhelming she couldn't keep it from showing.

But he didn't want to push her and upset her further so he went along with her change of topic.

"You could say I'm having – " He paused trying to think of a good excuse that wouldn't make him sound stupid.

"Ummm, aggression issues. Right and I'm not sure how well I can control my temper out on the field."

It was clear to Stiles that Erica didn't really believe him, who could blame her? Anybody who knew him would find it extremely hard to believe that he had issues with aggression.

"I read somewhere that people who get stage fright get over it by not thinking about what they're doing."

"Huh?" Stiles frowned

"Maybe if you thought about something else while playing it could help. You could sing a song in your head."

As they walked to the library, (Stiles decided to skip his next class since by now he was already late and Miss Collins liked to embarrass late students) Stiles thought about Erica's suggestion. It sounded plausible enough, a psychological problem will more than likely have a psychological solution.

Derek had already told him about anchors and how they help keep werewolves in control even on a full moon. Maybe Erica's song thing worked the same way?

The two students spent the next period studying in the library. They would occasionally ask each other a question or two but for the most part they just sat together. By the time the bell rung for the next class Stiles was fully considering Erica's suggestion.

Stiles was putting his stuff away when he remembered something. He grabbed a CD from his bag and gave it to Erica.

"I was supposed to stop by the hospital to give this to you but since you're here now, here you go."

Curious, Erica accepted the CD and smiled when she saw what it was.

"Star Wars?"

"I told you I was making it my duty to get you to watch this and I meant it. Besides if I could convert someone in this school I might be tempted to actually come here early."

Erica blushed immensely and Stiles smiled at his new friend.

 **AN: Hey! I'm back! I've still got a lot of work to do to catch up with Shifted but I'm feeling confident that soon I'll be posting regularly again. BTW I've already got a few one shots for the TW One Shots story I was telling you guys about. It should be posted sometime around June I think.**

 **How do you guys feel about Coach in this chapter?**

 **Any thoughts on #Sterica?**


	14. Nefarious Plots and Backup Plans

Scott McCall has been in a state of paranoia for the past 15 hours. He kept looking for signs of sabotage and mischief. Anything out of the ordinary immediately sent the curly haired boy panicking. All he kept thinking about was Jackson's promise to make him regret going back on their deal.

To be honest, Scott wasn't even sure what Jackson was so pissed off about. It's not like either of them have gotten any closer to finding out what was going on with Stiles. Since they made that stupid deal all they did was watch him while he was at school. They didn't even get around to following him after lacrosse practice since things kept getting in the way. Maybe it was the principle of the thing?

He made it through first and second period without anything happening so Scott decided to calm down a bit. What could possibly happen to him while at school? He was surrounded by teachers and students (witnesses) so surely Jackson couldn't do anything to him. He was just being paranoid.

His failed attempt at positivity shattered when he got to Algebra.

"Why's there a rumor going around that your friend's not playing tomorrow?" Lydia Martin asked him while they were solving the equation on the board. Well, she was solving the equation, he had no idea what he was doing.

Scott took a moment to wonder how on earth everyone knew about Stiles' decision not to play. Then he dismissed that thought knowing it was pointless trying to figure it out.

"Cause he's sort of not."

"I think he sort of _is_." Lydia said, "And you better make sure of it considering what you owe Jackson."

"I don't owe him anything!" Scott spat through clenched teeth. Trust Jackson to make it sound like _he_ was the victim.

"Ofcourse you do." Lydia's nonchalance was confusing Scott so he waited for her to continue.

"After all, the only reason you get to play on Saturday is because he got Danny to give you the goal while he plays on the field." Lydia gave a sort of giggle and smirked at him, "I mean, did you really think you could keep up with all those other players running around the field? What, with your asthma and inexperience and all. I'm pretty sure you'd be _safer_ in goal."

She turned back to her equation writing the last few lines, "And if Danny decides he wants to play goal again, well I just don't think there'll be much room for you on the team. And since you're not nearly as good as your best friend, it'll probably help us win faster without you. Then we'll go out afterwards like we were planning and I'll introduce Allison to all the hot players of the team. And Scott McCall can stay at home surfing the net for porn with his spaztic friend as company."

With that last promise, Lydia finished her equation and sashayed back into her seat leaving a troubled Scott on the board.

 **OoOoO**

As soon as Algebra finished, Scott immediately set to work looking for Stiles. He had to convince him to play or at least tell him why he suddenly can't play their first game. Lydia's threat really shook him especially since everything she said was true. Despite his improvement in lacrosse and in controlling his asthma, he knew he still had a long way to go before running alongside the other players for hours.

That's why he spent most of the summer at the tennis court playing with the ball shooter while he practiced saving goals. It took him quite a while to figure out how to work the thing, luckily the janitor did and he agreed to help him so long as he didn't invite other teenagers. Scott knew that he would do better in goal than out on the field chasing after the ball, and after a while, he actually enjoyed playing goal. It was something about the role of protector instead of aggressor that appealed to him.

Now, thanks to his own stupid idea to align with Jackson, he was in danger of losing the chance to play the game he loved most.

He was literally pulled away from his depressing thoughts when Stiles grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him into an empty hallway.

"I have to play tomorrow."

"You have to play tomorrow."

They said at practically the same time.

"What?"

"What?"

Having enough of the _parrot game_ , Scott pressed his hand against Stiles' mouth. When they first did the _parrot game_ when they were six it was kind of funny, now it was just plain annoying.

"You're playing tomorrow?"

Unable to answer, Stiles just nodded.

"What changed your mind? I thought you were serious about not playing."

Stiles slapped Scott's hand away from his mouth so he can talk.

"I talked to Coach. He said if I missed this game, he'd put us both back on the bench."

Scott's eyes widened in shock, he didn't expect this at all.

"Lydia said if I didn't get you to play, she and Jackson would make sure I don't get to play and she'd introduce Allison to all the hot players on the team."

Stiles frowned, it was times like these that he couldn't believe how different this Lydia was from the Lydia he grew up with. The Lydia he fell in love with wouldn't have stooped down to this level of blackmail. He knew this was Jackson's influence. Ofcourse, he knew Lydia wasn't the same sweet eight year old girl with the ponytail, and he also knew she could be pretty mean when she was crossed, but somehow Jackson just brought out the worst in her and he didn't like it.

"Guess I really have no choice but to play then." All Stiles had to do now was tell his broody werewolf mentor about his change of plans and get the man to agree to help him.

"Wait." Stiles said suddenly, thinking back to the other part of Scott's confession. "Why would Lydia and Jackson care if I played or not? I thought for sure Jackson would be celebrating that I wasn't gonna play."

"Oh umm," Scott mumbled and looked at the wall behind Stiles, "Lydia said something about not wanting to umm date the captain of the losing lacrosse team. So she uhh wanted to make sure other good players are there to play. And that umm includes you."

Scott looked really uncomfortable but Stiles just chalked it up to him still being uncomfortable with his newfound lacrosse talent.

"Right well, I figured out a way for me to play so I guess we're good." Stiles said

"Why didn't you want to play again?"

"Umm school. Aggression." Stiles said counting them down on his fingers. "First game jitters. Getting busted by my dad for using steroids. It varies depending on who you ask."

Scott frowned, he opened his mouth to ask him what he meant but Stiles cut him off.

"So I'll tell you about my plan after school. Meet me at my house okay?"

Then before Scott could say anything more, Stiles pat his shoulder and ran off to his locker. Scott just stared after his best friend and once again wondered what the hell was going on with him.

 **OoOoO**

All throughout lunch, Stiles avoided everyone. He couldn't sit with Scott because all the lies he's been telling his best friend felt like they were gonna swallow him whole, especially now that they seemed to be useless since Scott was still being affected by his curse. He stayed away from Allison because he really didn't want to give her any reason to suspect he was a werewolf regardless of how little she seemed to know about it. And ofcourse he steared clear of the school's power couple not wanting to be interrogated or harassed by either. He couldn't even sit with Erica because she was at the nurse's office for a follow-up.

So that left him in the library hiding the sandwich in his bag and taking small bites out of it when the librarian wasn't looking.

He tried to get started on his homework but all he could think about was Saturday's game and how it was shaping up to be the most dreaded moment of his life. So he abandoned his Econ paper and wrote down back-up plans upon back-up plans for the game.

 _ **Saturday's Plan to Stay (**_ _ **Alive) (**_ _ **Sane)**_ _ **Human**_

 _A. Pray to God that he could stay in control for the whole game_

 _B. Try to find an anchor within the next 18 hours_

 _C. Get Derek to use the dog whistle again_

 _D. Try Erica's song thing_

 _E. Go to the game but fake an injury ASAP_

 _F. Fake a doctor's note_

 _G. All of the above_

Beside each plan, he wrote out pros and cons hoping that it could help him decide which one has the greatest chance of success. The anchor and the song seemed like his best bet except he didn't have an anchor and maintaining a single calm mindset with adrenaline pumping hot in his veins on his first couple of weeks as a werewolf is a lot easier said than done. Asking Derek for help sounds really good, it worked before so in theory it should work again. Only, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to heat the dog whistle amidst all the noise at the game.

Faking an injury seemed particularly inviting, it would be a great way to get out of the game without having anyone question him. It was even easier to do knowing that he could heal in an instant without having to pay for hospital treatment. He could easily break his arm or ankle moments before the game, wrap it in a bandage and just keep on pretending. The more he thought about it, the more that he liked this plan. He could even fake the injury while playing when feels himself start to change.

He could still play without shifting and hurting anyone else.

Giddy with joy, Stiles let out a bark of laughter ignoring the librarian's angry glares, for the first time in a week he actually had hope.

* * *

 **AN: Okay so I know I am way waaayy behind. But hear me out. School sucks. The amount of homework and exams we're assigned is insane! Almost Harris level insane! Granted that might have to do with the fact that I'm graduating this year. But it does mean that update times will no longer be as regular as before. During Holiday breaks I'll try to make up for that but no promises.**

 **In other news I will be posting the first of my TW One Shots, this one featuring our favorite hunter. So please check it out :D**


	15. Digging for Answers Part 1

Stiles was by the drinking fountain when he saw his father talking to Principal Thomas. Curious, he tilted his head and focused his hearing on the two men.

" _I want everyone under the age of 18 to be in their home by 9:30 pm."_ His father said looking more grim and official than Stiles has ever seen him, _"We'd like to institute the curfew effective immediately."_

Suddenly, he remembered the thing that started this whole mess. In the chaos of adjusting to his new life he completely forgot about the dead body and more importantly who killed her.

Before he got bit, all he wanted was to find the body and possibly help his dad in catching the killer. He thought that the killer might have been a psycho or maybe a group of psychos. After all, the woman wasn't just murdered, she was cut in half. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it would take more than just your average human's strength to do that without the use of power tools.

But that was before he knew of the things that really went on in that preserve. Before he knew that the myths he read about for fun weren't just myths but actual truths. Before he realized just how strong even a newly bit werewolf was.

It wasn't too farfetched to think that the Alpha could have killed her even though he couldn't think of a reason why. Maybe he tried turning the girl and things got out of hand and he killed her instead? Except, if he did, he didn't see the point in him cutting her in half. What was the point of that? Was he simply out of control? Or was there something else going on that he couldn't figure out because he didn't have all the pieces?

Stiles spent his next class, Econ, thinking about the girl and his theory that the Alpha killed her. He felt that he owed it to the girl. He didn't think it was right that she was killed in such a gruesome way and she couldn't even be laid to rest because half her body was still missing.

"…something that entrepreneurs use to get the public to notice them?"

Maybe he should go back to the woods after school to look for the body again. He could even bring Scott with him, it could be the perfect chance for him to tell his best friend about everything he's been keeping hidden. With his enhanced sense of smell, he should have a better chance of finding the body now.

"Advertisements."

"That's right. Thank you Danny."

If he found the other half of the body, it would be easier for his dad to identify her and maybe it would help Stiles figure out what the Alpha wanted with her. Why not just kill her? Why the need to cut her body in half and leave one half of it next to a known trail that joggers use?

What was the point?

"By using pictures or infomercials, the public starts to notice the entrepreneur and the business." Coach explained, "Pretty soon they're flocking the stores trying to get their hands on the products."

Stiles tensed and frowned as he turned his attention to Coach's lecture. _What did he just say?_

With a new theory forming in his hyperactive mind, Stiles raised his hand.

"Coach so you're saying that a simple ad could get people to come from all over the world just to get to the source?"

"Nice to know you were actually paying attention Stilinski." Coach said patting Stiles' shoulder as he passed him by, "And yes. It depends on the effectiveness of the advertisement. Take lacrosse for example…"

He had it all wrong.

That was why her killer took the time to cut her body in half.

That was why one half of it was left somewhere it would easily be found.

The girl wasn't cut in half just because her killer was a psycho.

She was cut in half to send a message.

And Stiles had a pretty good idea who the message was for.

 **OoOoO**

Stiles tried very hard to sit still and wait til the end of the day before going to Derek's. He really did.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, his heightened emotions and natural born curiosity were too much for him to take so as soon as the bell rang and Econ ended, Stiles was out of his seat, out the door, and racing through the crowded hallway to get to Roscoe.

"Stiles!"

Someone was calling his name but he barely heard it, too focused on getting past the sea of hormonal teenagers.

"Stiles! Wait!" Stiles jerked to a stop when someone grabbed his back pack.

He turned and saw it was Scott following him.

"Dude where are you going? Chemistry's about to start and you know Mr. Harris is going to kill you if you're late."

Stiles sighed and rubbed his forehead. He seriously had more important things to do than worry about stupid Harris and his class. Besides, Stiles knew that even if he got to class early and sat perfectly still, that demon would still find a way to torment him.

"Look Scott, you have to cover for me okay?" He said, "There's something I gotta do and frankly Harris is the least of my worries."

Scott frowned, "What? Why? Where are you going?"

"Just please do this for me. I promise I'll tell you everything once I've got it all sorted out." Stiles begged. He could see how much his secret has been weighing on his best friend and more than anything he wished he could tell him right now. But this wasn't the kind of conversation you have in the middle of a busy hallway, that's why he wanted to wait til after school to tell him. So he could sit him down and explain everything to him and give him time and space to process everything.

Not wanting to get asked any more questions, Stiles ran and left Scott once gain wondering what the hell his best friend was up to.

For a while, Scott stood there debating his next move. He wanted to find out what was going on with Stiles but he didn't want to do anything to get his grades to go down any further. In the end though, his love and worry for Stiles overcame his fear of failing and he left to follow his best friend.

 **OoOoO**

When Stiles got to Derek's place, he was surprised to see the older werewolf already waiting for him on the front porch.

"You knew her didn't you?" He didn't waste any time bothering with pleasantries. "The girl that was killed the night I got bit."

He waited to see how the older werewolf reacted to his accusation but his face just remained blank.

"She's why you came back, right? She's why you were there the next day. Because you were looking for her. Which means you also know what killed her. And if you cared enough to find her body and lay her to rest in your backyard I'm guessing you also care enough to find her killer."

It didn't take long for Stiles to connect the missing half of the body with the awful scent he smelled the last time he was at the Hale House. Part of Stiles thought that since he buried the other half of the body, then there was a good chance that he killed her too. But something in his gut just told him Derek was innocent. Not only did Derek take the time to give her a proper burial, but he buried her in his property. Neither of those sounded like something a psycho killer werewolf would do.

"And if I'm right about who it is then you need to tell me."

"I don't need to tell you anything." Derek said in that unemotional voice that he uses like 50% of the time, the other 50% he just sounded murder-y. "Even if I did, what makes you think I would tell you?"

"Because you said it yourself, we're brothers." Stiles said, "And I know I haven't been a good brother to Scott lately but I can try to be one with you. That means helping you with whatever shit you got yourself into. It means trusting my instincts when they tell me that you didn't kill the girl."

If Derek was affected by what Stiles said he didn't show it. "There's nothing here." He said, "I don't know who that girl was and none of this is your business."

Stiles just raised his eyebrow at his answer, "Really? So if I grabbed a shovel and started digging around your property I wouldn't find the missing half of a body?"

"You'd be dead before you even grabbed a shovel."

Frustrated, Stiles grabbed his head and screamed.

"So that's it? You're just never gonna trust me? Not even to help fight the Alpha?" Stiles scoffed, "Unbelievable. You know what? Screw you Derek. I came here to get some answers and hopefully get to the Alpha before he gets to me. So if you're not gonna help me with that, then I'll find out for myself."

Derek watched the boy walk to his jeep thinking that he was finally leaving and taking all his questions with him. In all honesty, Derek did trust Stiles. He trusted that he was a good person and that he would never betray anyone he considered a part of his Pack. He trusted that the young wolf would help him find the Alpha and get Laura the justice she deserves. He even hoped that after all this, he could convince Stiles to formally join his Pack so that he could rebuild the Hale family wolves with him as the Alpha.

But none of that made it any easier for Derek to share his secrets with him. He's never been good at opening up or at being 100% truthful to another person. He couldn't even tell Laura the whole truth about what happened six years ago because he was ashamed and guilty and scared that if he told Laura she would hate him forever.

His eyes stayed on Stiles wondering if he should tell him at least part of the truth. Then he saw him take something from his jeep and without thinking, Derek ran and pinned the other boy to his jeep knocking out the shovel in his hand.

Derek roared at his face, his eyes flashing blue, and his fangs and claws coming out as he crushed the boy's wrist.

"I warned you."

"Tell me who she is." Stiles said seemingly unafraid of the angry werewolf staring him down. "Tell me who she is so I can tell my dad and convince him it was just a terrible animal attack. And maybe he can give you the other half of her body so you can give her a proper funeral. That's all I want to do for now. Everything else, the Alpha, the killer, the game they can all wait until the girl can rest in peace. She deserves that."

Slowly, Derek calmed down and released him. He turned his back on Stiles and his eyes found the unmarked grave where half his sister was lying in. Laura Hale was a proud, strong, beautiful Alpha and she deserved more than the meesly burial Derek gave her. She deserved a proper send off.

"Her name's Laura. Laura Hale." Derek said letting his grief show for a brief second as he acknowledged the death of his older sister.

"She was my sister."

 **OoOoO**

Unbeknown to the two werewolves, someone was hidden in the bushes watching them. Someone who caught snippets of their conversation and came to a very _very_ wrong conclusion.

* * *

 **AN: I had a hard time figuring out how Derek would react to Stiles' accusations without making him too OOC but I also wanted to make him different from the too broody and untrusting Derek of the show.**

 **There will be things that happened in the show that I will introduce a little bit earlier here. With Derek taking on a more mentor-y role to Stiles and the growing bond with them, I feel like it would be right for some things to come early.**


	16. Digging for Answers Part 2

_**Previously:**_

" _Tell me who she is." Stiles said seemingly unafraid of the angry werewolf staring him down. "Tell me who she is so I can tell my dad and convince him it was just a terrible animal attack. And maybe he can give you the other half of her body so you can give her a proper funeral. That's all I want to do for now. Everything else, the Alpha, the killer, the game they can all wait until the girl can rest in peace. She deserves that."_

 _Slowly, Derek calmed down and released him._

" _Her name's Laura. Laura Hale." Derek said letting his grief show for a brief second as he acknowledged the death of his older sister._

" _She's my sister."_

 _ **Now:**_

"What?" Stiles asked as far as he knew Derek was the only surviving Hale. He thought they all died in that fire ten years ago.

"But I thought – the fire."

"Neither of us were in the house when it happened." Derek said looking at the charred building where his entire family spent their last moments screaming in agony. He remembered everything about that night. He remembered the fight, the cold, the smell of burning flesh… the crushing guilt of knowing he was the reason his family was killed.

"By the time we got back, it was too late."

Stiles didn't know what to say or how to react. He felt sorry for Derek, ten years ago he lost his entire family, and now the only family he had left was murdered by an unknown psycho. He didn't even want to imagine the kind of pain the older werewolf was feeling right now and it just strengthened his resolve to make sure the girl – Laura, got the justice she deserved. Maybe after she can be at peace, Derek could lay his ghosts to rest, start over, and go back to the basketball star that he was before the fire happened.

He didn't know what to do for Derek who seemed to be trapped in his own thoughts reliving his family's last moments. If it was Scott or his dad he'd give them a hug to comfort them and remind them that they weren't alone. But he knew if he even tried to do the same thing with Derek, he'd end up with a few broken bones and a vivid reminder that Derek Hale doesn't do hugs. What he did know was that it wasn't good for him to be so close to the place where his family was murdered. He didn't think it was healthy and not for the first time wondered why he stayed here instead of renting out an apartment.

"Come on." He said clapping Derek's shoulder before getting on the driver's seat, "We have a lot of planning to do. We'll go over to my place since dad's working and the house will most likely be empty."

A beat or two passed before the broody Hale relented and got on Stiles' jeep.

 **OoOoO**

It was approximately one and a half minutes after the two werewolves drove away that their silent tail finally moved from his spot in the bushes. Still reeling from what he saw and heard, the boy sagged against a tree and proceeded to stare ahead of him for a few more minutes.

When he followed Stiles after he decided to skip school, Scott didn't know what he was expecting to find, but his best friend meeting with town recluse Derek Hale never even made the list. As far as he knew, the only time Stiles has interacted with Derek was the day after they found the body in the woods when the two of them were looking for his inhaler. Apparently he was wrong because by the time he caught up with Stiles, the two were in the middle of a conversation and Derek didn't seem bothered at all by Stiles' presence.

Truth be told, he still wasn't sure exactly what he found out. Obviously Stiles and Derek were a lot closer than what he thought and they had some sort of secret between them. He tried to think of what it could be but he couldn't think of a single thing that the two had in common. So he got as close to them as he dared and hoped that he could hear something that would answer all his questions.

Because he was too far from them, he couldn't exactly make out what they were saying but he did manage to catch a few words and he didn't like what they all added up to. Stiles mentioned the dead girl in the woods a few times and he sounded like he was accusing the older boy of something. Scott paled at what it could mean and froze even more when he saw Derek Hale move at an inhuman speed as he chased and pinned Stiles to his own car. From his vantage point he couldn't see either of their faces but it didn't take much for him to realize that his best friend was being threatened. He heard something animal roar almost at the same time Derek grabbed Stiles and if he weren't so scared, he would have marvelled at the timing of the roar. He grabbed a fallen branch beside him and was just about to come to Stiles' rescue when Derek released him. Confused, he strained his ears and listened harder than he ever needed to his entire life.

'… _tell my dad…attack…Alpha…killer…girl'_.

He only heard a few of what Stiles was saying but he thought it was enough. Obviously Stiles was talking about the girl found dead in the woods, more specifically about her killer, and from what Scott heard, it seemed the killer was closer than he thought. He didn't know how, but Stiles figured out that Derek Hale was the killer and Scott thought that he was here to take the older man to the station. He didn't know why Stiles didn't just call his father to do the arrest or at least tell him of his suspicions but he figured Stiles had a good reason for it.

He tightened his grip on the branch in case his friend needed help, he didn't know how volatile Derek was and he wasn't taking any chances. Then he got the shock of his life when instead of 'arresting' the older man, Stiles actually patted him on the shoulder and invited him to his car!

Scott watched his best friend drive away with a possible murderer unable to comprehend what just happened. At first it seemed like Stiles was there to accuse Derek Hale of murder and bring him to the station to help his dad, then it looked like he was actually _helping_ the man.

 _Was Stiles helping a murderer?_

Furiously, Scott shook his head. No matter how distant he and Stiles have gotten over the past few days, he still believed he knew the other boy better than anyone and he knew Stiles would never associate with a criminal.

He was sure of it.

But if that was true, why did Stiles act like he was friends with Derek Hale? Why was he in the woods in the first place?

Why didn't Stiles tell him about the dead girl and his suspicions?

Suddenly, his phone rang snapping him out of his thoughts.

 _Allison Calling…_

Sighing, Scott accepted the call.

"Hey."

" _Scott where are you? You and Stiles missed Chemistry and Mr. Harris seemed all too happy to give us a pop quiz after he noticed you guys were gone."_

Scott debated whether or not to tell Allison the truth. Even if he didn't fully understand what just happened with Stiles, he knew enough to keep it a secret so his best friend wouldn't get in trouble. But this kind of trouble seemed far worse than what he initially thought Stiles was caught up in. He was driving around with a possible killer and Scott didn't know what to do.

"I – I'm in the woods." He said, "I followed Stiles after he left school and now I'm in the woods."

" _What are you guys doing there?"_

Scoot took a deep breath before replying. "Allison, it's Stiles. I – I think he's in trouble. I followed him to try and find out more but now I'm more confused. Allison I don't know what to do. I want to help him but how can I if he doesn't even tell me what's going on?"

Allison was quiet on the other side of the phone and Scott knew she was finding it hard to give him advice because she wasn't exactly close to Stiles. No matter how many times he tried to get his best friend and girlfriend to hang out more, things just kept popping up to keep it from happening.

" _Have you tried asking him? Maybe you're just worrying over nothing."_ Allison suggested.

"Ofcourse I have, I —" He paused. Has he actually asked Stiles about this?

" _Scott – I know you're worried about Stiles and want to help him but maybe the best way for you to do that is by talking to him. Maybe he just needs to know that you've got his back and he can trust you to help him deal with his problems."_

"He does know that," Scott insisted, "We've been best friends for as long as I can remember. Stiles knows he can come to me for anything."

" _Well then maybe all you need to do is remind him of that. But don't push him too hard by grilling him, it might just make things worse."_ She paused, _"Shoot, that's the bell, listen I gotta go but call me if you need anything okay? Good luck with Stiles, I hope he's okay."_

"Me too." Scott sighed as the call disconnected.

He thought about what Allison said. He knew things haven't been great with him and Stiles since school started but it wasn't so bad that Stiles felt like he couldn't confide in him, right? Stiles still trusted him, right?

But then he thought about the last time they talked, _really_ talked without either of them keeping something from the other. It was the night Scott found the dead body and they exchanged stories of their night in the woods as they bandaged Stiles' bite.

 _Has it really been that long?_

Well, he knew lately he was spending a lot of his time with either Allison or lacrosse practice but Stiles knew how important both things were to him. He understood why he had to spend so much time with dates and practice. Stiles wouldn't think that meant he couldn't rely on him anymore, right?

 **OoOoO**

"Crap!" Stiles cursed stopping the jeep just around the corner from his house.

Right there on the Stilinski driveway was his dad's car looking like it's been there a while. Stiles had his dad's schedule memorized so he knew that he wasn't supposed to be home until like six pm.

"What's wrong?" Derek asked

"My dad's home so we can't go to my house unless we want him asking too many questions about you." Stiles explained. "Damn it!"

"I thought you said the house was supposed to be empty."

"It should be. Maybe he forgot something at the house or decided to rest for a bit. Whatever it is, I gotta get him out of the house."

"Or we could just go somewhere else. There's a coffee shop near the hospital." Derek suggested.

Stiles coughed and waved his arms around, "Uhh No we can't! In case you forgot, I'm supposed to be in school right now and everyone in this town knows who I am and more importantly who my dad is. If they see me, they'll tell him and he will kill me and I will be dead. So no we can't just go anywhere."

He looked back at his dad's car completely missing the look that Derek was giving him.

"I know!" Stiles snapped his fingers, "I'll call him and get him out of the house for at least an hour."

So he got out his phone and dialled his dad's number, after a couple of rings his dad picked up.

" _Stiles?"_

"Hey dad just — " His carefully constructed plan of getting his dad out of the house shattered when his moody passenger suddenly got out of the jeep and started walking to the Stilinski house.

" — just checking you're okay. Obviously you are so I gotta get back to class now. Bye dad!"

Stiles threw the phone on the passenger seat and followed the leather jacket wearing werewolf on the street.

"Derek!" He called, "Derek! What are you doing?!"

For one horrible second, he thought that Derek would try to talk to his dad right now. That couldn't happen! They weren't ready yet and if this _sour wolf_ said the wrong thing, his dad could think that he was the killer!

He was about to tackle the older werewolf to the ground, damn the consequences, when he saw him head to the side of the house rather than the front door. He frowned as Derek stared at window on the second floor as if he was studying it. Then he just jumped. Stiles watched, his mouth open wide as Derek Hale jumped onto the window sill in the second floor with ease.

"Woah." Stiles exclaimed watching Derek disappear into the house.

Despite all the training he's done with Derek, Stiles didn't feel like he was doing anything particularly _'werewolf-y'_ other than the super healing, super strength, super speed, super coordination. He wanted to do something so awesome it will make him feel like a real werewolf and not just some guy on steroids.

"Alright, this is easy." He was standing beneath the window Derek disappeared into psyching himself out, "Just bend your knees and jump."

He stretched, took deep breaths, and muttered a few encouragements to himself to prepare.

"Hoo. You can do this Stiles. You're batman."

With one last deep breath, Stiles bent his knees and jumped. His left hand grabbed onto the windowsill and he was so surprised he just stayed like that for a couple of seconds just marvelling at what he did. He wanted to scream so badly to let the whole world know that he, Stiles Stilinski, jumped two storeys like it was nothing. But he knew he couldn't so he just gloated in silence and grinned like the Joker.

After a couple more seconds of silent gloating, he decided it was time to get inside lest one of the neighbours actually see him hanging on the side of his house. Swinging slightly, he reached out with his right hand to pull himself up. He landed in his room and took a moment to wonder how Derek knew this was his room. But that thought was pushed aside as he saw Derek looking at his crime board.

"What is this?" Derek asked

"That's my crime board." Stiles replied turning on his computer. "I started that after you told me about the Alpha so I could try and figure out some stuff on my own."

"You know most of these are wrong, right?"

Despite the scepticism in Derek's voice, he was honestly quite impressed with Stiles' research. True, a lot of the stuff on his board was fiction but some of them were really obscure myths that he didn't even know about. Like the myth of Tezcatlipoca and the Nagual. Derek was sure that it wouldn't take Stiles long before he learned all about the supernatural world even without his help.

"Which is what the strings are for." Stiles said opening up his Documents folder and began searching through the results on the screen. After that, he continued his search online.

"You can help me sort that out after we get your sister's body out of police custody."

"What's your plan?" Derek asked though he chose to remain standing.

"First things first," Stiles said printing out a few pages and turning to Derek, "Are you absolutely sure that the Alpha killed your sister? It couldn't have been the hunters or an actual wild animal?"

Derek thought about it for a while before shaking his head.

"Laura wasn't just a werewolf. She was an Alpha, and she was fast and strong. Any wild animal stupid enough to take her on would never have stood a chance."

"And the hunters?"

"I don't think it was them either. I know there are hunters out there who use swords and chainsaws to kill werewolves before cutting them in half but the cut on Laura's body was jagged and irregular, not clean and sharp which is what it would have looked like if a hunter did that to her. She was ripped in half and it would have taken someone as strong as her to even come close to doing that."

Visions of sadistic hunters wielding a broadsword and chopping him in half flashed through Stiles' mind but he banished them as quickly as they came. There would be time to ask Derek about those but for now he had to focus on Laura.

"Alright," Stiles gathered all the printed pages and showed them to Derek, "Now luckily for us Beacon Hills Preserve has a long history of animal attacks that killed one or two civilians in a year. These are all news reports of those attacks and a few others where wild animals tore their prey in half. There's one there about a coyote leaving cats cut in half on the doorstep of several upset ladies. Really gross but also kinda cool."

He watched Derek study the pages, he got especially curious when Derek seemed to fixate on a few of the Beacon Hills attacks.

"If we can prove to my dad that the same thing happened to Laura then they won't have any reason to keep her body in the morgue as evidence when you claim it."

Derek raised his eyebrow, "You expect me to just walk up to the police station and tell the Sheriff that the body in his morgue is my sister?"

"No. I expect you to go to the station and file a missing person's report on your sister after telling them about her return to town. Then give them every distinct mark on Laura's body, a scar, tattoo, birthmark, everything. If you do that, the cops will do the rest and all you'll be asked to do is identify the body before they release her."

Stiles grinned, this was quite possibly the sanest plan he's ever concocted and the possibility of it actually succeeding was great. He was just thinking about how great it was to have a plan that wasn't destined to fail when he heard his dad's phone ring.

* * *

 **AN: *peeks out from behind Derek* Hi guys. Sorry this one took so long but I had my case study and my thesis and my final exam. Not to mention I had to give my Case Study presentation twice because of some stupid red tape.**

 **I know this chapter is kinda boring, but the next one is going to be more interesting I promise. Not sure when I'll be able to upload the next chapter, I just don't have constant internet access for my laptop which is where I write my stuff.**

 **Anyway I hope you guys forgive me and that you liked this chapter :)**


	17. Digging for Answers Part 3

Scott stayed sitting in the woods after Allison called. His girlfriend helped him see things in a different way and realize that maybe he was taking Stiles for granted and putting everything else above him. So he decided that the next time he saw Stiles, he'd make more of an effort to keep his friend.

With that decided, he now only had one more thing to worry about: Stiles riding around in his jeep with a possible killer.

He didn't know what to do. Stiles looked like he knew what he was doing, he didn't even look scared when Derek Hale got into his jeep. But instead of reassuring him, Stiles' calm demeanour only worried him more! Scott has seen that calm, unworried look on Stiles dozens of times before and it always ended with either or both of them in the emergency room with cuts and bruises and getting grounded for life. The last time he saw Stiles that calm was the night they went looking for the dead body and it ended with Stiles getting attacked by a wild animal and him losing his inhaler.

Knowing all that, he couldn't help but worry that Stiles was getting in way over his head once again. Only this time he could end up with more than just a few scrapes.

He could just let it go and trust that Stiles really knew what he was doing. But what if Stiles was in trouble now? What if he totally misread the situation earlier and Stiles was actually being threatened by Derek Hale? How could he forgive himself if anything happened to Stiles because he decided to waste precious hours he could have used helping his friend?

Choosing to err on the side of caution, Scott dialled Stiles' number and waited for him to answer.

"Come on Stiles pick up."

He waited and waited, feeling his anxiety grow with each ring.

 _ **Hey you just missed me. But if you knew how to dial my number, I'm assuming you also know what to do after the beep.**_

When Scott first heard Stiles' outgoing message, he was partway amused and annoyed. Now, the stupid message just acted like gasoline to the worry burning inside him. His best friend left the woods with a possible killer in the passenger seat and now he wasn't answering his phone.

He tried again and again hoping that Stiles would just pick up. Maybe he just had his phone on silent or something. But five more tries later and all he heard was Stiles' answering machine.

Fearing the worst, Scott went and dialled another number. This time, he got an immediate answer.

" _911 what's your emergency?"_

 **OoOoO**

The two werewolves fell silent as they listened in on Sheriff Stilinski's phone call across the hall.

" _Sheriff we got a tip about the killer."_

At that, both Stiles and Derek tensed. No matter what the tip was about, there was no doubt that it would be bad for both of them especially for Derek.

" _What is it?"_

" _A kid called saying to check on Derek Hale. He says he heard Hale talking to someone about the body and the killer."_

Stiles and Derek exchanged a look. It seemed like someone heard their confrontation at the woods and neither of them noticed anyone.

" _We already cleared Hale, didn't we?"_

" _We did Sheriff but the kid sounded pretty scared. It could be worth checking out."_

Stiles scoffed. He knew that this tip the deputy got could hardly be called a lead and he knew that under normal circumstances, the deputy would have ignored this tip and chosen instead to find solid leads. However, he also knew by the excitement in the deputy's voice that he would follow this lead no matter how vague if only so he could get off the desk and do something to alleviate his boredom.

" _Alright, we've got next to no leads about this case so take Haigh and get over there to at least give this kid a lift home. The last thing we need is a kid getting lost in the woods."_

" _Sheriff there's something else the kid said."_

" _What is it?"_

" _He said he saw your son driving off with Hale."_

Stiles' breath hitched. Someone saw him with Derek and they're making it sound like he's either an accomplice or a hostage.

This just kept getting worse and worse.

" _That's not possible. Stiles is at school I just talked to him about ten minutes ago."_

" _Maybe the kid made a mistake."_

" _Maybe. Hey Colin, who is this kid?"_

" _Scott McCall sir."_

" _Alright, thanks."_

He looked at Derek and found the same troubled look in his eyes, only Derek seemed to be leaning towards murderous rage in response to all of this while he was still in shock. All he could think about was Scott telling the cops that Derek was the killer. How the hell did he come up with that? Then there was the fact that Scott followed him to Derek's place. How much did he hear? Did he see Derek shift? Was his secret blown?

There was the sound of a door closing followed by Stiles' dad muttering to himself.

" _Kid you better be in school when I call you."_

Panic was really beginning to set at this point. If his dad called his phone and it rang, he didn't even want to know what his dad would do if he found him in his room with the very guy his deputies just called him about. He checked his pockets, his desk, even his shoe but he still couldn't find his phone.

"Hey Derek have you seen my phone?" He asked looking out the window to check if he dropped his phone after his Peter Parker moment.

"Dammit I can't find it." He cursed when he couldn't find his phone in the yard. "My dad's gonna call me in… scratch that he's already dialling my phone and I can't answer it."

He could hear the dial tone from his dad's phone and up until this moment he has never associated the sound to a ticking time bomb. He could feel the panic growing, it was eating him up and in his mind he started coming up with possible excuses to throw at his dad to get both him and Derek off the hook.

And then, he calmed down.

"He's calling and there's no ring. No ring means no chance of him finding out I'm in my room instead of at school. This is good."

The dial tone was replaced with his outgoing message and before he could breathe easier, Derek finally moved and snapped into attention.

"No." He said, "You need to answer your phone."

Stiles frowned, "What? Okay, first of all I can't find my phone, remember? And since I don't have it in this room that means he won't hear the ring and we won't get caught."

"Oh yeah? And what do you think he's gonna do next if he doesn't get a hold of you after the tip his deputy just called in?"

"He'll call the school." And then he stopped, "He'll call the school and they'll tell him I skipped. That plus the tip plus my unattended phone equals a really big pile of shit for us. Dammit!"

He was on the door before he could even think about it.

"Hey dad!"

He didn't know who was more surprised when he opened the door, him, his dad, or the angry werewolf behind him.

"Stiles?" Noah frowned, "What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be in school."

"Uhh I just wasn't feeling too well dad." He coughed a little bit trying to sound as convincing as possible. "Felt kind of feverish so I came home."

Noah frowned and placed the palm of his hand on Stiles' forehead, "You do feel a bit warmer. How do you feel?"

Stiles was shocked by this but he did his best to hide it, his father has just given him the perfect excuse and he wasn't about to do anything to make him even more suspicious.

"I'm much better now. I took some Advil, I'll just sleep this off."

Noah nodded, satisfied that his son wasn't either slacking off at school or suffering from a serious medical condition.

"How long have you been here?"

"I just got here dad but what about you?" Stiles asked desperately changing the topic, "What are you doing home in the middle of the day?"

"I just came to grab some files I took home a couple of nights ago." He paused before asking about the tip he got.

"Stiles did you go here directly from school?"

"Yeah, where else would I go?"

"Someone called in a tip a few minutes ago, apparently someone saw you driving with Derek Hale. Is that true?"

Stiles gulped. He had no answer for this, at least none that would make sense while keeping him and Derek out of trouble.

" _Tell him you hit me with your jeep, you wanted to make sure I was okay so you gave me a lift."_

"Right, umm I hit him with the jeep on my way here." Stiles said relaying Derek's whispered response, "It wasn't serious, I mean he could still walk. I just grazed him a little bit but I wanted to make sure he was okay. So I gave him a ride to the hospital but he got off before we got there. Said he had somewhere to be and that he was fine."

When he saw the look on his dad's face he was sure he would lose Roscoe. After all, he just 'admitted' to hitting someone, his dad would be well justified into taking away his keys.

"Stiles, are you sure he's okay?"

Part of him wanted to tell his dad that Derek could be hit by Roscoe at high speed and his jeep would still end up worse, but he cast that aside and nodded instead.

"Next time, when you feel feverish, take the bus."

He nodded even more enthusiastically.

"Now hand me your keys."

Stiles' jaw dropped and for a full second all that came out of his mouth were garbled syllables.

"What? Dad I was sick!"

"And you should have known better. You could have called me and I would have picked you up. So as punishment I'll keep the keys for the weekend or longer if your fever doesn't go away."

He protested a bit more while plotting ways to kill the werewolf responsible for him losing Roscoe, but he eventually relented and gave his dad the keys.

When his dad left to follow up on the tip, Stiles turned his attention to the culprit in his room.

 **OoOoO**

Colin Matthers of the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Department was bored. Three weeks into the job and the most interesting thing to happen to him was that body search in the woods but even that wasn't exciting enough. He joined the police force because he wanted to feel like Will Smith in Bad Boys, to feel like a hero. He wanted the action, the ladies, the recognition for being a hero. Instead he was nothing more than a paper pusher who sometimes goes on house calls to break up teenage parties. So when he got that tip about Hale, he didn't care that it was most definitely nothing or that the Sheriff could get angry at him. All he cared about was getting out of his damned desk before he blew his brains out just so he would have something to do.

"Haigh!" He called, "Come on. Grab your gear we gotta go back to the Hale house, some kid called in a tip and the Sheriff wants us to check it out."

When he and Haigh got to the Hale house, a teenage boy was right there waiting for them.

"Hey kid, are you Scott McCall?" Colin asked.

"Yes Sir."

"What exactly did you see?" He asked while Haigh started looking around the property. Colin wasn't sure what Haigh was looking for, it was fairly certain by this point that the kid just spooked himself and they'll just end up giving the kid a lift home.

"Well I'm not really sure." The kid said and Colin sighed, he asks for action and he ends up a babysitter. "I heard him and – someone talking about the dead body and the killer. I thought it was strange so I called you guys."

Colin was torn. On the one hand, he wanted to laugh at the kid, he basically just called 911 because he was scared of Derek Hale. He knew the man was intimidating and kinda creepy but the kid actually called 911 and the jock inside him wanted to laugh so badly. But on the other hand, he didn't want to end this 'investigation' so soon. He had a stack of paper work waiting for him in his desk and he would do anything to delay working on it. Even if it meant humouring a stupid teenager.

"Listen ki – Scott." He said, "It's not unusual for people to be talking about this case. Beacon is a pretty small town and this is the first awful thing to happen here in a long time. So I need you to tell me exactly what happened and what you heard and maybe I can find something you missed."

"Okay, I saw Derek standing in front of his house taking to – talking to someone. It looked like they were arguing but I'm not sure. I heard them say –"

"Fuck!"

Colin and the kid turned to find Haigh brushing dirt off his pants.

"Haigh, you okay?"

"Yeah just tripped over this flower." Haigh grumbled. He bent down to pick up the purple flower that caused him to trip and frowned. It wasn't planted firmly on the ground like he thought and there was some rope tied to it.

"Hey Matthers! Come look at this."

Now more curious about the flower, Haigh pulled on the rope and was more astonished to find it was longer than he thought. He barely noticed Matthers and the kid walk over to him, he was too preoccupied with the puzzling thing in his hands. The rope seemed to have been buried in a spiral, to a focal point that he couldn't see. Now, some part of his brain was telling him to stop pulling, for all he knew this rope was connected to a bomb or dog or some other booby trap but his curiosity got the better of him and he kept pulling.

Finally, the spiral was complete and the rope was still tied to something buried underground. The three exchanged looks as they wondered what could be down there. It could be something as innocent as a branch or something far more dangerous like a bomb.

"What do I do?" Haigh asked.

"There are a couple of shovels in the trunk." Colin said.

Haigh didn't even think twice before dropping the rope and running to the car.

"What do you think is down there?" Scott asked

"We're about to find out." Colin replied accepting the shovel from Haigh.

Colin and Haigh started digging, both wondering what could be buried under here and the significance of the rope. In the back of his mind, Colin remembered one of the more chilling versions of the Bloody Mary story that his older sister told him. According to her, Mary was buried with a rope tied around her wrist which connected to a bell on the surface as a safety precaution in case she was still alive. Mary woke up in the coffin and pulled on the rope as hard as she could to ring the bell but no one was in the house so no one heard her. The next day, her parents found the small bell tower on the floor so they dug her up. There, they found Mary dead with bloody hands clawing at the coffin and a perpetual look of fear on her face.

He remembered not being to sleep for several nights since then and desperately hoping that Bloody Mary wouldn't haunt him.

Now, as he continued digging with Haigh, he tried his damndest not to think about that urban legend. He'll just focus on digging until they found whatever it was buried in here, probably a chest or a box or something. He wouldn't find a dead body.

He just kept telling himself that trying to convince himself until the stench started to get to him.

"Oh God what is that?" Haigh said covering his nose.

"Just keep digging." Colin grimaced. He did his best to block out the smell, using the handkerchief in his pocket as a makeshift mask so he could continue digging.

"No way! I'm getting as far away from that stench. You go on digging if you want." Colin watched his partner practically run to the car. He could have followed him and just left the mystery of the horrible stench alone before taking the kid home.

But he couldn't because he knew that smell. He's only been to the morgue once but the smell of decomposing bodies made a real impression and he swore he would remember it for the rest of his life. And if there was even the slightest chance that the kid was right about Derek Hale then that meant the missing half of the body they were looking for could be down here. It could be a dog or a racoon, but if not, he had to be sure.

So he continued digging.

It didn't take long until he found something bound in a red blanket.

"What is that?" Scott asked but Colin didn't reply. He took out his Swiss army knife and started cutting the ropes tied around the blanket.

At this point, he was pretty sure he had a pretty good idea of what he would find. So when he finally unwrapped the object, he just turned away, closed his eyes and got out of the grave. He ignored Haigh and Scott throwing up, he couldn't blame them, he could feel the bile rising in his throat but he pushed it back down and turned on his radio.

"Dispatch this is Unit 3." He said "We found the missing body. It's at the Hale House."

He confirmed that a backup was on the way before turning back to the dead body in the shallow grave. The girl's eyes were still open and it was like she was staring at him. Telling him what happened to her and condemning him for letting her die.

When he woke up that morning, he wanted so badly to be a hero so he could feel special and maybe even get medals and money. But now, looking at those judging eyes, he was beginning to rethink that. Sure, he didn't know who the girl was but he can't help feeling like he let her down somehow.

The look in the girl's eyes made him feel like a total failure and he had no idea how to move forward.

* * *

 **AN: How did you guys like Laura's discovery? Originally, Scott was supposed to call Isaac for help with digging up Laura but I scratched that because it seemed out of the blue and more than likely, Isaac's asshat father wouldn't let him leave.**

 **Anybody recognize the Bloody Mary story? I know there's a lot of myths about arguably the creepiest ghost story ever (at least for me) but this one is from Ghost Whisperer. Seriously, Bloody Mary has never failed to give me goosebumps.**

 **On another note, do you guys know why I can't view my PMs and can't reply to reviews on ff mobile? I can't review to any of you guys because of this.**


	18. Aftermath

**AN: Hey everyone! Yes, I'm still alive! Sorry about going awol, I was working on possibly securing a thesis grant for my group so I kept my focus on that. Hopefully, this long-ish chapter can help put me back in your good graces. Enjoy!**

* * *

Derek was arrested as soon as he got home. The cops were waiting for him with their handcuffs and probable cause that he didn't even make it inside his house before they were on him. He could have fought back or ran, hell he didn't even have to come back to his house after the Sheriff's phone call, but Stiles convinced him staying and getting arrested was for the best.

 **OoOoO**

" _You can't run." Stiles said, "If you do, they'll hunt you down and the whole town will know you're here,_ including _the Hunters."_

" _So I'm supposed to let them arrest me for my sister's murder?"_

" _No. You're supposed to go with the cops to the station so they can question you. Right now all they have is that you buried Laura in your backyard, so tell them the truth. She was your sister, you came here looking for her and when you found her body in the woods you decided to give her a proper burial. I'll talk to my dad and get you out I promise."_

 _When the older werewolf frowned and still looked unconvinced, Stiles boldly placed a hand on his shoulder, looked him in the eyes and said, "Trust me."_

 **OoOoO**

Much as it irritated him to surrender himself to the police like a common criminal, he knew Stiles had a point. Even though he was pretty sure the hunters already knew he was back, he couldn't risk them looking too closely and finding out about Stiles. He knew all too well that they wouldn't care how old Stiles was or that he hasn't hurt anyone. They would treat him like a murderer the minute they find out about him.

The ride to the police station was a great exercise of patience and self-control for Derek. First of all, there was the scrawny curly haired boy watching from the trees as he got arrested. He knew this was Stiles' friend, the boy who dug up his sister's body and had him arrested for her murder. Then there was the coroner's van driving in front of them carrying Laura's body. His inner wolf was screaming at him to get his sister away from the strangers, to get her back and damn the consequences. He constantly thanked whoever was listening that he managed to get a hold of his wolf enough not to rip their throats out. He just hoped he could keep the same level of control when the interrogations began and they all labeled him as a murderer.

 **OoOoO**

While Derek was off getting arrested, Stiles was busy putting his lungs, legs, and newfound werewolf speed to the test. The minute his dad left for the preserve, Stiles jumped out the window and headed for the preserve as well. He knew that if Derek knew what he was doing, the grumpy old sour wolf would rip his head off for risking everything this way. But Stiles just had to do it. He wanted to know exactly what was going on at the Hale house and listen to what the deputies and Scott especially were talking about.

The preserve was about a fifteen-minute drive from his house and he's never run anything close to this distance. Before he was bit, he never would have even considered a run like this knowing that he would be on the verge of death about fifteen minutes into the run.

But now, something else happened. He didn't know if it was the adrenaline or the moon rising in the sky or something else, but it was like the wolf inside him came out for the run. His eyes turned into a blaze of gold, his claws came out, and he instinctively got down on all fours and just kept on running. He could feel the crunch of the leaves and twigs beneath his fingers, see and avoid obstacles without stopping. It was glorious and amazing and… _different_. Different from the other times he shifted.

Because this time, he didn't feel angry.

 **OoOoO**

Matthers was right when he told Scott that the Jane Doe cut in half was the worst thing to happen in Beacon Hills for a long time. It brought out the morbid fascination in every townsfolk, hardly a day went by when nobody was discussing the case. Which is why on the day they found the missing half of the body and arrested Derek Hale, it seemed like every law enforcement officer in town was present.

The number of people trampling all over the crime scene would have made any normal crime scene investigator cringe and scream that the crime scene was being contaminated. In fact, one was busy yelling at one of the deputies to clear the area while they collected evidence. However, one man reacted differently. In fact, he was the one who leaked the news of Derek Hale's arrest to his fellow officers.

And while everybody else was busy doing their jobs and talking about the body and Hale, the man stood by and took pictures of Derek Hale in handcuffs.

 **OoOoO**

Stiles has been on the Beacon Hills Lacrosse Team for a little over a year now, and even though he never really made into the _real_ team until a couple of weeks ago, he still participated in the drills. One such drill was joining the cross country team for a run through the woods. When Coach first told them of this, he remembered complaining a lot to Scott about how running through uneven terrain was dangerous, pointless, and likely to cost him his only running shoes.

Now though, as he ran through terrain even more perilous than the path the team took every other Saturday, on hands and feet no less, Stiles couldn't even remember why he hated it. Running like this just felt so… _right_. He couldn't explain it, it was like, like how he felt on his first ATL concert. The thrill, the excitement, the sheer belief that nothing could be better than this very moment were at the forefront of his mind despite knowing what Derek was going through.

The run to the Hale House lasted about thirteen minutes and all too soon for Stiles' liking, he was hiding behind a tree watching Scott talk to the deputies. He closed his eyes and focused all his energy on Scott's voice.

 **OoOoO**

Watching Derek Hale get arrested was by far the scariest moment of Scott's life. It should have been rewarding or at least cathartic, but having a cold blooded killer look at him like he was a wounded gazelle, made him _feel_ like a wounded gazelle with a hungry wolf on his tail. Even after Derek was escorted into the cruiser Scott swore that he could still feel the man's cold, angry eyes fixed on him. He wouldn't be surprised at all if a pair of green eyes featured in his nightmares that night.

He got even more worried and scared when Stiles failed returned his calls and texts. He told Deputy Matthers about his friend and his worry that Derek did something to him, but he just told him that Stiles was with the Sheriff before going to speak with the coroner. Scott didn't know if Stiles being with the Sheriff was good or bad, was he at the station giving a statement? Was he hurt? Did he tell the Sheriff about his conversation in the woods?

Not even two minutes later, the Sheriff came and Scott rushed to his side in an instant.

"Sheriff! Where's Stiles? He was with Derek earlier and he's not answering any of my calls. Is he okay?"

"Scott he's fine." The Sheriff said, "He's at home sleeping off a small fever. I already asked him about Hale, he says he was driving him to the hospital after he grazed him with the jeep. Don't worry, he's getting punished for it."

After that bit of reassurance, Noah escorted Scott to the car not noticing the young boy's frown.

Scott already knew that Stiles lied to his dad. What he couldn't figure out was why he was lying. Didn't he know Derek was the killer? Obviously Stiles already had his suspicions, and by now Scott was pretty sure the police scanners were talking loudly about Derek's arrest, was it really possible that Stiles hadn't heard about it yet?

He was too deep in thought that he almost missed the Sheriff's question.

"So Scott, what happened here?"

"Umm – didn't your deputies tell you that already?"

"I got the brief from Deputy Matthers but what I wanna know is just how you ended up here instead of school?"

Scott gulped, "Oh, well I just saw Derek hanging around town. I thought he looked suspicious so I followed him."

"You skipped school to spy on Derek Hale, is that what you're telling me?" The Sheriff raised his eyebrows, his disbelief was evident.

When Scott made that call to 911, he can admit that he didn't think exactly things through. He forgot that he was supposed to be in school and that he really had no way of explaining anything without mentioning Stiles.

"Yes." He said because really what else could he say? "Please don't tell my mom."

Sheriff Stiliski sighed, maybe Scott has been spending too much time with Stiles, both of them were far too interested in his investigations than they should be. If this kept up, he knew the boys would get themselves into something they shouldn't and he would probably suffer a couple of migraines and heart attacks along the way.

"Scott, why would you follow someone you believe to be dangerous?"

"I just wanted to help." Scott said

Noah sighed again as he started the car, "I know Scott. You and Stiles just can't help yourselves no matter how many times I tell you to leave the crime solving to me. Now do you have all your stuff with you or do we have to stop by the school first?"

"Uhh actually Sheriff could you take me to Stiles? I kind of need to talk to him."

 **OoOoO**

Guilt was the primary emotion churning in Stiles' stomach as he listened to Scott repeatedly ask the deputy about him. The fear and worry in his best friend's voice was so strong that Stiles knew he was thinking up all the horrible ways that could have been happening to him. To say he felt bad about it was an understatement especially considering he was prepared to be angry and annoyed at Scott for calling the cops and getting Derek arrested. He never even considered that his best friend might have been worried about him, that he was waiting for him to return his calls (he still had no idea where his phone was and made a mental note to find it as soon as possible). He was just so focused on Derek and how to help him with his situation that he completely forgot about everything and everyone else.

He listened to Scott's conversation with his dad, feeling even worse when he heard Scott try his hardest to keep his presence at the preserve a secret. Stiles wondered if this was because Scott saw Derek shift. Was he scared of him?

When he heard Scott ask to be taken to him, Stiles cursed his bad luck and then he ran, hoping to outrace the cruiser on his feet, at night and with no traffic in sight.

God he hoped he made it.

 **OoOoO**

Breathe in. Breathe out.

In

Out

In

Out

All the way to his house Stiles kept a steady stream of this 'mantra' going through his head. Well that and a consistent _"Please, please, please"_. Hoping that someone was listening and his dad would never have to know he was out of his bed when he was supposed to be sick.

Lucky for him, his wolf was definitely listening and his animal instincts came out giving him the extra burst of speed he needed to beat his dad to the house.

He'd just jumped onto his window for the second time that day when he heard his dad's cruiser pull up the driveway.

" _Stiles should be in his room."_ He heard his dad say.

He kept his ears on the conversation downstairs while he gathered his thoughts and tried to look less winded than he was. He fixed his hair, stashed the now ruined running shoes under the bed, and thought about pretending to sleep to avoid the upcoming conversation (argument) with Scott.

Stiles didn't really know how to deal with Scott right now. On the one hand, it would be good to know exactly what Scott heard and saw in the preserve. He was scared that Scott saw Derek's partially shifted form because that was only a stone's throw away from Scott finding out about him and he wasn't sure how to react if his best friend started seeing him as a monster.

But on the other hand, he wasn't sure he could talk to Scott without letting his true feelings show. What if the gut wrenching guilt he felt in his stomach forced him to blurt out his secret and caused Scott to be angry and fearful of him? What if the annoyance and anger he felt at Scott being the reason Derek was in jail resurfaced and caused him to shift uncontrollably and do something horrific?

He didn't know and it hurt a lot more because all the scenarios he could come up with ended with him losing Scott.

" _You go on inside and check on him."_ His dad continued, _"I'll be in in a second. Here, take this…check his temperature when you get up there, he was a little too warm earlier and I'm a little worried."_

The out of nowhere request momentarily put a stop to his increasingly panicked thoughts. He remembered being confused when his dad said he was feverish but he was just so relieved he got a decent excuse that he didn't think to question it. But now, he felt his neck to check his temperature and was shocked at how hot he was, almost feverish! Was this another 'werewolf perk'? If the bite was able to raise his body temperature without him knowing, what else was it doing to his body without his knowledge?

He made plans to ask Derek about these as soon as possible. It was time he upped his werewolf lessons to more than just physical training and getting his wolf under control, he had to learn everything about what was going on with him.

By the time Scott made it up to his room Stiles still hadn't figured out how to deal with him.

"Hey."

"Hey."

* * *

 **AN: Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I'm throwing in a new curve ball to this story?**

 **Well, I am, and this chapter had the first _hint_ of it. That's another reason why it took me so long to update, this new thing I decided to add will have a big impact on the story so I had to make a lot of adjustments. The uploaded chapters are safe though, don't worry.**


	19. Interrogations

**AN: Okay I know it's been a while but here me out.**

 **Life's hard and I suck at time management?**

 **Here's me hoping this extra long chapter will earn me a few points from you guys.**

* * *

For one brief moment that felt like a thousand years, Stiles' room was quiet as the two boys struggled to figure out how to address the events of the past two hours (Has it really been just two hours?).

The uncomfortable silence was broken by Stiles' dad appearing behind Scott.

"How do you feel son?"

Stiles answered, "Hey dad, I'm feeling much better now actually."

"That's good, but remember to take your medicine in a couple of hours okay?"

Stiles just rolled his eyes, "Yes dad, I'll take it."

"Good." Noah said before turning to Scott, "Scott are you gonna stay over?"

"I'm not sure yet Sheriff. Maybe."

"Alright, I gotta head back to the station. I should be back in a few hours."

Noah waited until both boys assured him they would be alright before leaving the house. The Jane Doe's body couldn't be examined until the next day because their only Medical Examiner was still out of town, but Derek Hale could be interrogated tonight and he intended to be there to get some answers. At the very least he could get the girl's name so he could inform her family of what happened.

As soon as the Sheriff left, Stiles and Scott looked at each other, wondering who would speak first.

"Derek Hale was arrested this afternoon." Scott said after a while.

"Yeah, I heard."

As if on cue, the police scanner in Stiles' room came to life and they heard dispatch say two deputies would be stationed at the Hale house to watch it for the night.

The reminder of the situation at Hale house seemed to break Scott's silence.

"Stiles, I saw you with him at his house this afternoon. What were you doing there? Did you know he was the killer? Is that why you cut class to confront him?"

Stiles took a moment before answering, he knew whatever answer he gave Scott this evening would change a lot about their relationship. Should he lie and keep Scott in the dark? Or was this his chance to tell him the truth, after all he was already planning on doing it, right? Scott's role in Derek's arrest shouldn't affect his decision, right?

"You're right. I did go to Derek's house to confront him about the killer." Stiles said, he decided to tell Scott as much of the truth as possible, just leaving out the supernatural side of things. He'll tell him about the werewolf thing when he was less likely to anger or scare and potentially lose his best friend. And with Derek's arrest still fresh in his mind and his worry about the game in a few hours, he wasn't sure he could keep his emotions in check.

"So you knew it was him." Scott said, "But then why did you leave with him and lie to your dad about it?"

"Because he's not a killer Scott. He's…"

"What?! Stiles we found a _severed_ human body in his backyard. He killed the girl in the woods and buried her in his property like some dog!"

Stiles fought the growl in his throat at Scott's description of Laura. He didn't know her, but hearing Scott compare her to some dog angered him more than he thought it would. He didn't know what it was but thought it was another werewolf thing.

"You're wrong Scott." He said, "Derek did bury the girl in his property but he didn't kill her."

"What?" Scott asked, confused and frustrated by Stiles' answers. "You didn't see her Stiles. Her eyes were still open like she was condemning everyone for letting her be killed in such a horrible way. And yet here you are defending the man that did that to her and I don't understand it! How could you possibly stand by such a monster?"

"Because he's my friend Scott!" Stiles exploded.

"Stiles I'm your friend!"

"Really? When was the last time you and I hung out together since Allison came into town? When was the last time we talked without fighting or feeling awkward around each other?"

Stiles watched Scott's expression change from frustration to one of shock, hurt, and a bit of guilt. Seeing this, Stiles sighed.

"Look, Scott, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. You weren't the only one pulling away, truth is I'm not all that… comfortable around Allison."

"Why?" Scott asked

Stiles gave up and sat on his bed, feeling tired of this conversation already. "I don't know. Maybe it's because she's new and we know nothing about her family. They just appeared out of nowhere and then suddenly there's a dead body in…"

Instantly he bit his tongue and stopped talking. He may have decided to tell Scott some of what's going on but he couldn't say he was suspicious of the Argents without giving him a proper explanation. He just hoped Scott didn't notice anything.

"Wait," The frown was back on Scott's face as he looked at his best friend, "Are you saying – do you think the Argents have anything to do with the dead body?"

Stiles cringed before he could stop himself and instantly Scott was fired up again.

"Why? The Argents are good people Stiles, they would never hurt anyone. How could you even suspect them of this? Is this because of Derek? Did he tell you it was them?"

"It's nothing personal Scott." Stiles replied, "I'm just trying to piece this all together and help my dad find the _right_ killer."

"They already did Stiles! He's already in jail and he can't hurt anybody anymore."

And just like that they were back to where they started.

"Derek did not kill anyone Scott!" Stiles defended.

"Why are you so sure of that? What could he have told you to…"

"It's his sister Scott! The girl in the woods is his sister. He came here to look for her and found her ripped apart in the woods so he buried her in their old family property with the rest of their family."

Stiles knew that Derek would not be all that happy with Scott finding out about his sister, but since Derek was about to give the same explanation to the deputies at the station, Stiles figured he wouldn't be too mad… hopefully.

 **OoOoO**

Deputy Matthers was on hand to fill the Sheriff in when he arrived for the interrogation. He took him to the viewing room adjacent to the interrogation room Hale was in and they both watched the brooding man through the one way mirror.

He said, "No one's come to talk to him or even go in the room since he was put in there."

"Did he say anything on the ride over?"

"Nah, he's been pretty silent since his arrest. His only demand was that he speak to you as soon as possible. Guy didn't even ask for his lawyer."

At this, Noah frowned. He's been in the business long enough to know that a suspect buried under as much evidence as Derek Hale, not asking for a lawyer meant one of two things: either he was completely innocent and naively thought he didn't need a lawyer with the truth on his side or he was a cocky criminal who knows he's going to get away with murder no matter what evidence pops up.

Either way, he didn't like it.

"Do we know where he's been the past six years?"

"We're working on it Sheriff, but the guy is a virtual ghost. Other than a New York driver's license and some cash, we couldn't find anything else on him. Miller is already on the phone with NYPD to try and find out what Hale's been doing up there."

Noah nodded, "Alright, I'm gonna go talk to him. Let me know if you find out anything else."

Still trying to make sense of all this information in his head, Noah went into the interrogation room to find Derek Hale already looking at him. Hale's eyes followed him as he took the seat across the metal table from him and if Noah was a lesser man, the man's stare would have unnerved him.

"So, Mr. Hale, you wanted to talk to me?"

It took a full minute of silence and intense staring on Derek's part before he eventually started talking.

"I didn't kill her." He said

"Really? Because I've got a room full of experienced police officers saying otherwise."

More silence. "They're wrong."

The silence and brusque answers were aggravating him and Noah snapped, "Then explain how they found a dead body in your backyard! Are you telling me you just happened to find a severed body in the woods and decided to bury it in your property?"

"Yes." Derek said calmly.

"Now why would you do that? Because you're such a good Samaritan?"

The silence that followed was longer and Derek's stare more intense. Noah wondered whether the silences and the abrupt answers were a sign of his innocence or guilt.

"Because she's my sister."

 **OoOoO**

Stiles watched his friend process all this new information before giving him the same animal attack story that the rest of the town will get. He knew the guilt of all these lies would catch up to him, but for now his main priority was Scott's safety and getting Derek and Laura released from police custody.

"That's how Derek and I know each other." Stiles said after a couple of minutes, "He asked for my help looking for his sister's killer. He thought that being the Sheriff's son, I would be able to help him more than anyone. That's what I've been doing, why I've been keeping my distance, why I'm always busy."

When Scott still said nothing, Stiles continued, "I cut school to meet him because I found out something about the case." He swallowed before continuing, "It was a wolf that killed her. A great, big, brute of a wolf, the same one that attacked me the night we went looking for Laura's body in the woods."

All throughout Stiles' explanation, Scott kept his eyes fixed on a spot on the floor. He listened to everything his friend said and tried to make sense of it all. Some of it he understood, like Stiles helping out a stranger in solving one epic mystery, it's weird and kind of stupid but definitely something Stiles would do. Derek being somehow innocent of killing that woman was also plausible no matter how unbelievable it was to him. Even Stiles being attacked by the same freak animal that killed that woman, who is apparently Derek's sister, didn't seem all that hard to believe.

What he was finding hard to understand, however, was the secrecy.

For as long as he could remember, he and Stiles were the closest thing any two friends could be. They did everything together, from videogames to adventures likely to get them killed, he couldn't think of a single moment in either of their lives where one of them did something the other wasn't aware of. Have things changed so much in the past few days that Stiles managed to keep something this big from him?

"How come you never told me?" Scott asked after a while, finally turning to look at his best friend.

Stiles hesitated before answering. If he was being 100% honest with Scott, he could give him plenty of reasons why he kept quiet about the whole Derek situation.

Because he was too close to the Argents and Stiles found them way too suspicious.

Because he didn't think he and Derek would get along too well.

Because he didn't want to drag him down into the insanity that was his new life.

Because he was scared that if Scott knew he was a werewolf, he'd look at him like he was Jack the Ripper come back.

But since he couldn't tell him all that, Stiles just told his brother another lie.

"I don't know."

Compared to everything he's said to Scott, those three words should have been nothing, but instead it was the last straw. After hearing his reply, Scott scoffed, shook his head, and headed for the door.

"I don't know what's going on with you Stiles, and I know I've been more than a little preoccupied lately. But you've changed too and the worst part is despite all you've said tonight, I still get the feeling you're lying to me. When you decide to trust me again, give me a call."

Stiles blanched, he knew keeping his werewolf side a secret was causing a strain on his relationship with Scott but he never fully comprehended it until now.

Until he watched his best friend walk out the door and he realized he had no idea if they would be talking again.

 **OoOoO**

Noah was stunned. Of all the things he expected Derek Hale to say, that wasn't one of them. If he was telling the truth then Jane Doe could only be Laura Hale. He remembered the two of them after the fire six years ago, Laura did most of the talking and told him that she would be taking his brother out of town as soon as the police cleared them.

"After we left for New York, she did her own investigation about the fire." Derek continued, "Few days ago, she got a lead and came here to share it with you and finally get justice for our family. When she stopped answering my calls, I came here looking for her and found her body in the woods."

He kept his voice robotic and monotonous throughout his explanation. He didn't want to let the Sheriff know just how vulnerable and angry he was feeling right now. Letting even a smidge of his anger and desire for revenge show in his voice would only aggravate the situation and get him to spend his life in jail for killing the only family he had left.

"If your sister was missing, why didn't you file a missing person's report?" Noah said

"And trust the same people who let my family's killer get away by saying the whole thing was a tragic accident?" Derek scoffed, "I don't think so. I think I would have had more luck without you and your red tape holding me back."

His response stopped Stilinski for a moment. He could understand the man's frustration and distrust of the police force. Honestly, he even shared it sometimes. Six years ago, he tried to convince the Sheriff that there was more to the Hale fire than a simple electrical mishap. He just didn't understand how none of the family survived. The fire happened at around ten o'clock and even if the fire spread too fast, someone should have noticed something and at least one person would have gotten out. It was almost as if the entire family was physically incapable of leaving. But there was no evidence of arson so the Sheriff didn't listen to him. Eventually, he just forgot about the case as new ones popped up.

But now, if Laura Hale has indeed found a lead to solve their family's murder and the killer found out. It wasn't too much of a stretch to assume that's how the eldest Hale died.

"If what you're saying is true." He said, "And your sister came here to find out more about what happened to your family, it's possible that her death could be connected to the fire. If that's the case, I'm gonna need you to tell me everything your sister told you about her investigation."

"Why should I trust you?" Asked Derek, "Your people already let my family's killer get away. How do I know the same thing won't happen this time?"

Noah took a moment to gather his thoughts knowing that he had to say the right words if he had any chance of getting the surly Hale survivor to help him find the person responsible for the arson case six years ago.

"I'm sorry for your family. And for your sister." He said, "I know you don't know me and have no reason to trust me. But I promise you, I will do everything in my power to find whoever hurt them and see to it that they pay for their crimes."

Derek just stared at him, gauging his trustworthiness, as Noah did his best not to flinch and trusted that the man could see his sincerity.

After a while, Derek spoke again.

"I'll need a pen."

 **OoOoO**

Meanwhile in a police cruiser somewhere in town, a very important phone call was taking place.

"Hey Boss," Said the man, "You were right, the Hales weren't gone forever. Derek Hale just got back in town."

There was silence as the man on the other side of the phone responded.

"Yeah, the sister came back as well but she's dead. Some freak animal attack a few days ago."

The man tapped his fingers on the stirring wheel, in his head he was already counting the money he would be receiving for this particular piece of information. He was barely out of high school when he was first approached by his employer and told to keep an eye out for the Hales. The first few weeks the money was good, he was getting paid a thousand dollars a week for telling the man that Derek Hale was voted MVP and Cora Hale punched a classmate in the nose. Then the fire happened, the last two Hales left and he hasn't heard from the man in years. He was hoping that with the return of Derek Hale came the return of a thousand dollars in his pocket weekly.

"Wait seriously?" He exclaimed suddenly, "You're coming here? You don't have to come all the way here, I mean you could just wire me my…Right, sorry Boss. When do you get here? Do you want me to pick you up or…No, I was just…Sorry Boss. I'll keep watching Hale and let you know if anything changes."

He hung up the phone and took a deep breath. His Boss was coming back to town.

If he'd known the man would come back he might have reconsidered getting in touch with him. There's always been something – off about the man, something almost unnatural. He didn't know how to explain it but the _terror_ he felt every time he was in his presence was enough to make sure he limited all face to face contact with the man. Phone calls and wire transfers were the M.O. and that worked for him. If he didn't see the man it made it easier for him to pretend there wasn't anything wrong, that he was just a highly paid mail man. He just hoped whatever happened, he could still say the money was worth it.

* * *

 **AN: What do you guys think? A** **ny ideas on the mystery caller on the end? What about his Boss?**


	20. Bad Day for Lacrosse Players

Saturday's early morning lacrosse practice was filled with tension for all concerned. Most of the team was nervous and excited about tonight, understandable since it was the first game of the season. Coach Finstock was even more of a slave driver at practice since his star player was going to be playing with a dislocated shoulder. And said star player played more brutally than usual as if to prove to himself and everybody else that a dislocated shoulder was _not_ going to hinder him in any way.

However, the biggest tension among the team was between two of the newest first liners and it had nothing to do with the game. All throughout practice Scott and Stiles were virtual mirrors to Romeo and Juliet. They kept shooting each other longing looks whenever the other one wasn't looking and yet doing everything they could to avoid the other boy. If anyone was paying any attention to them, it wouldn't have been long before rumours started circling the school about their torrid love affair.

Luckily for them, no one was watching so they were free to moon over each other in peace.

 **OoOoO**

When Stiles wasn't busy lamenting his deteriorating friendship, he was busy worrying about tonight's game. He didn't know what time the M.E. would be able to examine Laura's body and this meant that Derek might not be released in time for the game, so he had to find other ways to keep himself from going all wolf on the lacrosse players.

The practice game has started with Danny as Captain of the Red Team and Jackson as Captain of the White Team. He was in the Red Team while Scott was in the White Team with Jackson. He was playing on autopilot and when Danny passed him the ball, he caught it by instinct. He was surprised to find that even with his mind elsewhere, he could still play lacrosse decently. He wasn't as smooth as he was during eliminations but he didn't suck either.

However, barely paying attention to the game meant that his reflexes weren't as good so when Ramirez, one of the biggest boys in the team, tackled him, he wasn't able to avoid it. The hit sent him crashing to the ground and then the other boy's momentum caused him to topple over and fall on top of Stiles. Worse still, Ramirez landed on Stiles' foot and his shout of pain was heard throughout the field along with the sickening sound of bone breaking.

The pain that shot through his foot was real and thanks to his previous training sessions with Derek, Stiles could tell that it was at broken. And like all those other times when Derek broke his bones he could feel himself healing immediately. The feeling of his bones snapping back into place and his tendons slowly stitching themselves back up was something Stiles was probably never going to get used to. From experience, he knew it would probably take a couple of hours for his leg to fully heal and unlike before, that knowledge wasn't making him feel better.

Normal people didn't heal from a broken bone in just a matter of hours. Desperately he begged his body to stop healing. _Don't heal. Don't heal._ He kept thinking. He didn't want his secret to be found out this way.

The pain has faded by now but Stiles continued to play the part of injured lacrosse player as Coach Finstock started checking him over. The rest of the team has gathered around Stiles and Rodriguez at this point, Scott was knelt by his head and Stiles could see how scared his best friend was.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked him

"Yeah." He smiled, "Yeah I'm fine."

By the time the medic got to the field Stiles has already felt his wolf listen to his silent demands to stop healing. He turned to look at his foot and almost vomited at how unnaturally twisted it was. His wolf has only partially fixed the break and now it looked like he just had a sprained ankle.

The medic gently took off his shoe and inspected his foot, applying pressure to certain points and carefully twisting the injured appendage.

"So Doc, what's the verdict?" Asked Coach

"Well, he's lucky. It looks like a sprain to me but he's gonna need an X-Ray to be sure. In the meantime, keep it iced to reduce the swelling." He then got an ice pack from his kit and pressed it on Stiles' foot.

Stiles flinched at the sudden coldness but instantly recovered. "Do I really need an X-Ray? It's just a sprain, I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Normally I would agree with you but your teammates said they heard bone breaking and so it's best to be sure there isn't an underlying fracture that I can't see."

He desperately tried to think of a way around the X-Ray. Not only could he not afford it, but if the doctor confirmed a fracture and he healed within a few hours, too many questions would be asked and he didn't have the appropriate answers for any of them.

"I really don't think I need an X-Ray." He said, "If it was a fracture it would hurt a lot right? This doesn't feel that bad. Honestly, it's just a sprain."

The medic frowned and just as Stiles was beginning to worry that he would push it, Coach came to his rescue.

"Hear that? My players are made of tough stuff!" The older man beamed at Stiles and patted his uninjured leg, "And my new star player here is definitely not gonna miss tonight's game!"

"Woah he is not playing tonight." Said the Medic

"What the hell are you talking about? He just said he was fine."

"Whether or not he has a sprain or fracture, he's not gonna be able to play tonight." The medic explained, "Even a simple sprain is gonna take weeks to fully heal. With how fresh this thing is, he's not gonna be able to stand let alone run or jump in the field tonight. If he forces it, he could cause more damage."

Coach Finstock looked absolutely destroyed. It was like someone just stole every valuable thing in his house and left him with the crappy coffee maker that might as well turn coffee into dust. After what happened to Jackson, he was counting on Stilinski to pull his weight and win tonight's match for them and then this happens!

"Umm Coach?" Stiles said interrupting Coach's impending panic attack, "Maybe I should sit out tonight's game. Just to be on the safe side. It's better if I just miss the game altogether than go out there and lose it for us. Or worse, do more damage to my foot and be out of commission the rest of the season."

"The rest of the season?!" Coach exclaimed, "Could that really happen?"

The medic nodded and Coach turned back to Stiles, "No way! Stilinski you are not playing tonight!"

Stiles smiled internally but managed to keep any of his joy from showing on his face.

 **OoOoO**

The rest of the practice went much more smoothly. Coach has benched Rodriguez for the next three games since he held the other boy responsible for injuring his new talent. He then called Scott to drive Stiles home with strict instructions to come straight back for practice because –

" _First Jackson gets injured, then Stilinski, I swear to God if any more of you slackers get hurt before the game I'm making you do suicide runs for the rest of the year."_

He also made Stiles promise to come to the game tonight even if he wasn't playing so that he could get a feel for a real game.

The first few minutes of the drive was as awkward as Scott had imagined. All the tension from the night before was still there like a vacuum sucking all the air out of Stiles' beloved jeep.

"So uhh how's your leg?"

"It's fine, it doesn't even hurt really. Just tender." Stiles said

"That's good."

Silence reigned once more and Scott wondered if this is how it would be between him and Stiles from now on. Forced interactions and crushing awkwardness. He didn't know what to do. Do they talk about what happened? Do they just decide to ignore it and move on? Should someone apologize? Him? Stiles? Both of them?

After their talk last night, Scott tried really hard to understand Stiles' connection with Derek. He tried trusting Stiles when he said that Derek was innocent and that there was an innocent explanation for what they found in his backyard. But try as he might he couldn't do it. Because every time he closed his eyes he saw green eyes. Green eyes that glared accusingly at him for even considering that the person who murdered her was innocent. Green eyes that had every ounce of life snuffed out of them. And a different set of green eyes that promised torture and murder for his part in putting him in jail.

He was so confused and he didn't know what to do.

"Wait Scott, I need to speak to my dad for a little bit. Can we go to the station instead?" Stiles' request brought him back to the present and Scott nodded.

Scott looked at his friend. He knew it was likely that Stiles' sudden visit to the station was related to Derek Hale's arrest. And given how insistent he was of the older man's innocence, Scott figured that Stiles was going in there to try and convince his dad of it. He considered asking him about it, or at least asking him how he planned on convincing the Sheriff. But he was afraid it would just lead to another argument so he let it go.

They arrived at the station and Stiles was already grabbing his bag.

"Should I wait for you?" Scott asked

"Nah," Stiles said, "I'm probably gonna be a while. You can use Roscoe until the game tonight, I'll just ask my dad to drop me off at home."

Scott nodded and then Stiles was gone, limping his way into the station.

 **OoOoO**

Stiles sat outside his dad's office waiting for him to finish his phone call. With his super hearing, he could hear that his dad was talking to the M.E. who said he would be by the station late that afternoon because his flight was delayed. While his dad spoke with the M.E some more, Stiles whispered and hoped the other werewolf in the station was listening.

"Derek, Derek can you hear me?"

Barely a second passed before he heard a reply.

" _I hear you. And I also heard the M.E."_

"I have the research I showed you yesterday." Stiles said, "I'm about to give it to my dad. It might help your case. This means you can be released this evening."

" _Not in time for the game. Do you have a plan?"_

"Yeah, actua – " He paused when one of his dad's deputies walked by. "I got injured at practice earlier. Coach is benching me for tonight."

" _How did you get injured? You're a werewolf."_

Stiles rolled his eyes. Even when he couldn't see him he could practically feel Derek's judgy eyebrows judging him. As if the Great Werewolf Derek Hale never got injured before. The sound of his dad's office door opening kept Stiles from replying to the sourwolf in the cell.

He jumped to his feet and ran inside his dad's office.

"Okay dad I know you told me not to get involved but I've been compiling this since the body was found last week and you need to see it." He took the thick folder out of his bag and placed it on his dad's desk.

Noah carefully looked at the folder as he sat behind his desk. Normally he would have dismissed his son already, but despite Stiles' _stilesness_ , he could already tell he had the makings of a good detective. And he would never admit this to his son lest it make him more unbearable, but Stiles' help was really valuable whenever he decided a case was exciting enough for him. Truth be told, Noah was already saving money for Stiles to get into Quantico after high school. He just knew his son would be an excellent FBI Agent.

"I know it sounds unbelievable dad, but I truly believe this may have been just an animal attack." Stiles explained, "Scott said when he saw the body that there were scratch marks all over it and the morning after we went looking for it, he swore he heard a wolf howling. So I did some digging and found that sometimes, big animals could be so enthusiastic about a kill that they literally rip their prey in half."

Noah paused in his perusal of the report, "Did you say wolf? But wolves haven't been in California for years."

"Sixty years actually." He said, "But I also learned that wolves are migratory creatures. We could be looking at a wolf that just happened to be passing by. Like a murderous, four legged drifter."

As his dad continued to read the files, Stiles kept his fingers crossed. His dad had to believe that this was just an animal attack. He just had to.

A few minutes passed before Noah closed the folder and looked at his son.

"Do you really believe this was just an animal attack?"

Stiles put on his most trustworthy and convincing face before answering, "Yeah dad. Trust me I wanted this to be some big murder or – . I mean it's not like I wanted the girl to be – " He paused and switched gears at his dad's raised eyebrow. "The point is, all evidence points to animal attack. Possibly even a wolf according to Scott."

He was subjected to his dad's detective look. The one that seemed to look deep into his soul and ferret out anything he might be hiding. His dad's been using that look on him ever since the day he was born (allegedly) and that was the only reason Stiles was able to stand there and not flinch, kind of.

Noah sighed and took off his glasses, "Personally Stiles, I also think this was just an animal attack. We've had so many of those over the years that I've half a mind to close off the preserve regardless of what the Mayor thinks. But until the M.E. can officially pronounce the cause of death as an animal attack I have to treat this as a homicide."

"And when the M.E. does that what happens next?"

"Well, first off we release Derek Hale. Then, we release the body to the closest kin so they can bury her."

Stiles almost did a jig right there. He knew what was likely to happen but to hear his dad say it made it feel more official. Plus, Derek could hear it as well and he just knew no matter how grumpy the other werewolf was, he would be happy about this.

"But none of that will be my focus tonight." Noah said interrupting Stiles' internal celebration. "Because tonight, my priority is seeing my son dominate the lacrosse field."

His father's proud, excited smile caused a massive ball of guilt to lodge itself in his throat and start to choke him. He was about to take that smile away from his dad and replace it with disappointment.

"Yeah dad, about that." Stiles said slowly, "Something happened and turns out I won't be playing tonight."

A beat and then.

"Oh god what did you do?"

Stiles' jaw dropped, "Wh – Why do you automatically assume it was something I did?"

"One, you look as guilty as you did when I walked into your room and you immediately shut your computer in the middle of your 'research'"

Stiles blushed recalling that incident. It was the main motivator behind his decision to finally fix the lock on his door.

"Two," Noah continued counting his fingers, "You're too calm and if it wasn't your fault, you would be ranting right about now. And lastly, you're my son, I've got first-hand experience at how infuriating you can be. So what did you do?"

He took a minute deciding whether to be insulted at the insinuation that it was automatically his fault or impressed at how well his dad knew him. Then he told his dad what happened and prepared himself to keep his dad from dragging him to the emergency room.

 **OoOoO**

The Argent house was silent as a grave when Scott got there. He probably should have told Allison he was coming over before he came here but when he came home to his mother saying she took an extra shift so she could tonight off and watch him play, the pressure for tonight just hit him all at once and he felt like he was losing control of everything. He needed to talk to Allison because somehow talking to her grounded him. Made him feel less like a drowning man and more like an Olympic swimmer.

He sat on the Argents' front porch and shot Allison a text telling her where he was. Her reply was quick saying she and her parents went to the store but they were a few blocks from their house. While Scott waited for them, he tried to prepare himself to meet Allison's parents. Allison's told him a little bit about her parents, she said they were intense but that they were better once they were more comfortable around you. Scott also remembered that Allison's father sold firearms for a living.

His collar suddenly felt tight imagining Allison's father asking him about his intentions while holding two machine guns in his hands with a chain of bullets wrapped around his body, a bandana on his forehead and a cigarette between his lips.

Desperate to banish those thoughts he started walking around their front yard. The first thing he noticed was that Mrs. Argent obviously loved some purple flower as it practically filled every inch of the garden plots. The flowers looked familiar to him but he couldn't remember what it was or where he's seen it before. Curious, he studied the flower's color, the shape of the petals, he looked closer and then – He remembered! It was the same flower that Derek Hale planted on that girl's grave!

He frowned. Was it just a coincidence or was there something more?

Still reeling from this weird connection, Scott didn't even notice he was slowly walking away from the flowers and closer to the road until he heard a car's horn and tires screeching.

Scott didn't even scream when the car hit him but as he fell to the ground, he swore he could hear Coach's voice saying suicide run over and over again.

* * *

 **AN: So Jackson's shoulders busted, Stiles' foot is "sprained", and Scott has just been hit by his girlfriend's father's car. Spoiler alert, Scott will be fine. It was just a small hit, think Marty McFly in Back to the Future when he got hit by his grandfather's car.**

 **I planned on making next chapter the big game but this one became longer than I thought so next up will be Dinner with the Argents and then we see the Big Game.**


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